


The Director's Son

by JasonMorganfan87



Category: NCIS
Genre: Abuse, Assault, Gen, Kidnapping, Protective Tim, Slight Character Bashing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-08
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-22 06:12:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 42,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7423180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JasonMorganfan87/pseuds/JasonMorganfan87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Director Vance has an adopted son at NCIS that no one else knows about. They're about to find out though when a hit is put out on younger man's life. Who is the Director's son and how will everyone react when they find out? And can they save him from this new threat?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Timothy McGee walked into the Italian restaurant he was to meet his sister, Sarah, in. She wanted him to meet her new boyfriend. He wasn't looking forward to it. For one, he had been ambushed with it. He hadn't even known Sarah was seeing anyone. It was irritating, but not surprising. Sarah kept her boyfriends a secret from the family as long as possible. The fact that both Tim and his father were very hard on her boyfriends might have something to do with that. Still, it was annoying.

Tim surveyed the restaurant. He found his sister sitting by herself in the back. He immediately went to join her. "Sarah."

Sarah looked up at him. "Oh, great, you're here," she said unenthusiastically.

"You invited me, remember?" Tim asked as he sat across from her.

"That wasn't my idea, it was Brad's. He had this crazy idea that we should meet each other's families," Sarah said. Personally, she could've gone the rest of her life without her boyfriend meeting her family. Her mother and younger siblings were fine, but her father and Tim were both going to be unbearable as usual.

Tim gasped in fake horror. "How insane."

"Oh, shut up. I have plenty of reasons not to want Brad to meet you. You and Dad make it your lives' missions to scare my boyfriends away,"

"Don't be dramatic," Tim said.

Sarah gave him a look. "Dramatic?! Dad went out of his way to make sure my last boyfriend knew what he did for a living and told him he could make his life a living hell if he ever heard one bad word from me about him. Then you purposely showed him your gun, making you think you'd shoot him if he hurt me."

"Who says I wouldn't have. So where is this Brian guy," Tim asked, purposely saying the name wrong.

Sarah glared at her brother. "It's Brian, as you very well know, and he's running a little late."

"Uh huh," Tim said sounding very unhappy.

"Oh, come off it. People are late sometimes," Sarah said.

"Yeah, well, guys shouldn't be late when they're meeting their girlfriend's families. It doesn't send a good first impression," Tim said.

Sarah shook her head in frustration. "Why did I choose you to be first?"

"Because you knew Dad would be worse and if you just went to Mom, she would tell him. Face it, I was your test run. If you can get through me, maybe the relationship will survive Dad." Tim said with a smirk.

Sarah glared at him again. "You know, the guys in this family are all sexist pigs. You don't get this kind of treatment when you bring someone home."

"I do now," Tim said quietly. After a long string of bad relationships, his parents had become much more wary about the people he dated. They didn't get the same treatment Sarah's boyfriends got, but they were subjected to background checks by his father and long interrogations by his mother.

"That's because you choose such horrible girlfriends," Sarah said.

"You're no better," Tim argued.

Just then, a young man with dark brown hair and brown eyes made his way over to Sarah. "Hey, sorry I'm late."

"It's okay," she said as he kissed her cheek.

The man sat down next to Sarah and held his hand out for Tim. "Hi, you must be Sarah's brother. I'm Brad."

Tim took his hand after a minute. "Tim."

"It's good to meet you. I've heard a lot about you," Brad said.

"Well, that makes one of us. I've heard absolutely nothing about you," Tim said. He then felt a swift kick to his shin and glared at his sister.

"Yeah, Sarah said she was avoiding telling you guys about me. I actually had to pressure her into letting me meet you guys," Brad said.

"So you're pressuring my sister?" Tim asked.

"Tim!" Sarah growled.

"No, it's okay, Sarah. I understand where your brother's coming from. I have two younger sisters. I'm not exactly easy on their boyfriends either. God help them if they hurt my sisters is my motto.

Tim had to admit that so far this guy seemed alright. He seemed decent enough and he was understanding about how Tim was with Sarah. But Tim knew that not everyone was how they appeared. Most monsters were the masks of decent people. He knew that for a fact. "Tell me, Brad, have you ever been arrested?"

"Tim!"

"Once for shoplifting," Brad answered without missing a beat.

"Brad!" Sarah rounded on her boyfriend.

"Sarah, he's gonna find out anyway. He's gonna run a background check, aren't you, Tim?" Brad asked knowingly.

"I won't have to. My father will have your information before he even meets you," Tim said honestly.

Brad chuckled. "Well, I knew one of you would do it, so I figure it's just better to be honest. You'll respect me more for it. Anyway, I was sixteen and my friends and I decided to be stupid and lift a bike from this sporting goods store. Obviously we were caught and arrested. We got lucky. The store owner dropped the charges the next day. Though, I kind of wished they would've kept us locked up. My father was not pleased when he found out," Brad said.

"Yeah, well, we're not gonna judge you because of one mistake. Tim is certainly not one to judge. He went joyriding in our father's car when he was fifteen," Sarah said as she gave Tim a knowing look.

Tim cringed. That was not one of his brightest ideas. It was the first and last time he'd ever been so stupid. He really thought his parents were going to kill him that day. He could still hear the screaming when he thought back on it. "Well, everyone makes mistakes I guess. But should you make any mistakes where my sister is concerned, you will have my entire family on your ass."

"Understood," Brad said.

"Good. Let's order," Tim said before picking up his menu.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

An hour and a half later, Tim, Sarah, and Brad were leaving the restaurant. "Well, it was good to meet you, Tim. I can't wait to meet your parents and younger siblings," Brad said.

Sarah looked at her boyfriend annoyed. "Do you have self-preservation whatsoever?"

Brad chuckled. "Come on, it can't be that bad. You said your brother was unbearable and it wasn't so bad."

"That's because I made him leave his gun at home," Sarah half joked.

"I still had my knife," Tim bantered. He took a knife everywhere. Gibbs would kill him if he started breaking rule nine."

Brad looked at Tim with a smile. That smile then turned to a frown.

"Something wrong?" Tim asked.

Sarah looked at her brother and saw what her boyfriend had noticed. There was a red dot from a laser on her brother's head. "It looks like some stupid kid is playing with a laser pen. You've got one of those fake red target dots aimed at your forehead."

Tim frowned and looked around for the cause. He looked up and found the cause from one of the surrounding buildings. It wasn't a laser pen. "Get down."

"What?" Sarah asked.

"I said get down!" Tim repeated loudly before pulling his sister to the ground. Brad went down at the same time. Seconds later a shot rang out


	2. Chapter 2

About an hour later, Tim, Sarah, and Brad were back in the restaurant surrounded by other patrons and the Metro police, who had been called directly after the shooting.

"When are gonna be able to leave?' Sarah asked. She was really shaken right now. She had never been shot at before. It was kind of freaky.

Brad put his arm around her. "The police have to do a thorough investigation. We'll probably be able to go as soon as they talk to us."

Sarah looked over at her brother. "Tim, are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be? I wasn't hit," Tim said.

"You almost were. That gun was set on you. You could've been killed," Sarah said. That was freaking her out as well. If Brad hadn't noticed that target dot when he did, her brother would've died tonight.

That fact was not lost on Tim. It hit him hard that he had nearly been killed. He was a federal agent, but that didn't mean he was any less affected than anyone else at the prospect of being killed, especially since this time, he hadn't even seen the danger coming. When he was out in the field, a part of him always anticipated the possibility of being shot at. This had him completely off-guard. "I'm okay, Sarah, thanks to the two of you."

"I thought it was just some kid messing around. I never thought it was shooter," Brad said.

"No one does. It's not something you figure out unless you know what it look like," Tim said. As an agent, he knew that a laser could be from a sniper. That was why he instinctively looked to make sure. But if he had been a civilian, he would've thought the same way Brad and Sarah did.

Soon, a detective made his way over. "Hey, Folks. I'm Detective Jonas. Can I get some names?"

"Timothy McGee. This is my sister, Sarah," Tim said.

"And I'm Brad Collins," Brad added.

"Detective Jonas turned to Tim. "A couple of people said you were the one to notice the sniper. You probably saved someone from being killed."

"The person that would've been killed is him. The gun was aimed at my brother," Sarah said.

Jonas looked at you. "The gun was aimed at you? You were the target?"

"I don't know if I'd say I was the target. There may not have even been a specific target. It wouldn't be the first time that someone just started shooting to cause mayhem," Tim said. He wasn't ready to accept the possibility that he was a target. He was right now trying to convince himself that it was just a coincidence that he was the one with the target mark on his head. Of course, then he heard Gibbs' voice in his head telling him that there were no such things as coincidences. But why would anyone wanna kill him?

Tim could hear Gibbs' voice again after that thought. Hell, he could almost feel the head slap the man would give him as he told him he was a federal agent, which alone made him a target. He could also hear his father's voice immediately after tell him that being his son made him a target as well.

"That's true, but usually there are multiple shots. This shooter only fired once. How did you know the gun was aimed at you anyway?" Jonas asked.

"Well, Brad here noticed a red laser mark on my head. I looked up and say the light from a sniper rifle from across the street," Tim said.

Jonas looked at him with suspicion. "You know what the light from a sniper rifle looks like."

"Yeah. I'm a federal agent. I work for NCIS," Tim said.

He raised an eyebrow. "You're a fed and you don't think you were the target?"

Tim sighed and looked away without answering.

"Look, sir… Agent McGee, I get it. No one, even someone in law enforcement, wants to think about being the target of a killer, but I think you know you can't afford not to take this seriously. If it weren't for your friend here, you would've been killed tonight," Jonas said seriously.

"It actually wasn't about him being afraid of being a target. Obviously he didn't wanna be a target and it did make him uneasy to know that someone likely wanted him dead, but what really made him deny it was knowing how his life would change by it. So far, he'd managed to keep his work and family lives separate. If someone wanted to kill him, that would change. His life would become an open book to everyone at NCIS. They would learn who he really was and that would change everything. If it was random, he could forget about it and go on with his life. But it wasn't. Tim knew that deep down, and pretending it was could get him killed as well as his family.

Sarah pulled her brother close and whispered in his ear. "Tim, I know what you're worried about, but get over it! You were nearly killed tonight. You have to take that seriously! Screw your reputation. It's not as important as your life. Mom and Dad will agree on that. And don't think you're gonna hide it from them because I will tell them if I have to.

Tim sighed and turned back to the detective. "Okay, I'm taking it seriously. You're right, I probably was the target."

"Good. Have you been working on any sensitive cases at NCIS?" Jonas asked.

"Well, if I was, I couldn't tell you about it, but no. And there were no recent threats made against my life or my teammates'," Tim said anticipating the question.

"Okay, do you know of any other reason someone might try to kill you? Anyone with a personal grudge?" Jonas asked.

"My brother's the nicest person in the world. No one would hate him enough to do something like this," Sarah said.

"Yeah, I don't have any personal enemies. But my father does. He's an important man. He makes a lot of enemies on a daily basis. There are plenty of people out there that would wanna hurt him, and they certainly wouldn't care about going after him through his kids," Tim said. No one had ever come after his day through one of them, but that certainly didn't mean it wasn't possible. And while very few people knew him and Sarah were his kids, that didn't mean they couldn't find out.

"Who exactly is your father and why does he have so many enemies? Is he a politician?" Jonas.

Tim sighed. "No. My father is the director of NCIS. Leon Vance."


	3. Chapter 3

Leon and Jackie Vance were currently in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner. Leon was putting the leftovers away glancing over at his wife every once and a while.

Jackie smiled at him after a while. "What are you looking at?"

"My beautiful wife," Vance said as he made his way over to his wife. He then leaned forward and slowly began to kiss her.

The two were cut off by their youngest son's voice. "Mom, Dad."

They both sighed and turned to their son. "What's up, Jared?" Vance asked.

"The police are here," Jared said. He and his sister had seen a police car pull up when they were watching TV.

"What?" Jackie asked before running out of the room towards the front door. Vance and Jared were right behind her. When they got there, they found Tim and Sarah there with Kayla.

Jared's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and he ran to his brother. He loved both his older siblings to death, but he idolized his big brother. "Tim!"

"Hey, little bro," Tim said before bending down and pulling his brother into his arms.

"Hey, what about me? What am I chopped liver?" Sarah asked.

Jared smiled and went to hug his sister while Kayla hugged Tim.

"Okay, my turn," Jackie said as she made her way over and pulled her two oldest children into her arms. "You guys should've told us you were coming. We would've waited to eat."

"It was a last minute thing, Mom," Tim said before pulling away from his mother. He and Sarah had decided to come after the shooting to tell their parents what happened. A Metro squad car had dropped them off. "Besides, we already ate.

Jackie frowned after letting go of her children. She'd felt Sarah shake as she hugged her. She then looked at her son and noticed something in his eyes. Not many would pick up on it, but she was his mother. She knew something wasn't right. "Uh, Kayla and Jared, you have homework. Get to it."

Both children's faces fell. "But, Mom…"

"Don't 'but Mom' me Jared Vance. Upstairs, both of you," Jackie ordered sternly.

"It's alright, buddy. We're gonna be here a while," Tim assured his brother. They were probably going to be there indefinitely. His parents were likely to pressure them to stay until the shooter was found.

Knowing they had no choice, Kayla and Jared headed out of the room and towards the stairs.

Jackie waited for her two youngest to be completely out of hearing range before turning back to the two others. "Okay, what's going on, and don't tell me nothing because I know better. The two of you are off."

Tim took a deep breath. "Can we do this in the living room? You should both be sitting for this."

Vance didn't like the sound of that, but he led the way into the living room and they all sat down. Vance and Jackie sat on the couch while Tim and Sarah sat in the two chairs across from them. "Alright, what's going on? Tim, I just saw you a few hours ago. What could've happened in that time?"

"A lot, Dad. A lot. As I was leaving NCIS, I got a call from Sarah. She wanted me to meet her for dinner so she could introduce me to her new boyfriend," Tim sad.

Vance made a mental note to talk to his daughter about that later. Sarah might be an adult, but she was his baby girl and he reserved the right to find out everything about who she was seeing and make sure he was good enough.

Sarah glared at her brother. "Did you really have to mention that?"

Tim ignored her. "Dinner went okay. It was after dinner that things got interesting. There's really only one way to say this. Someone took a shot at me."

Jackie's eyes went wide with alarm. "What?"

"Someone shot at you?" Vance asked with both fear and anger in his voice. He was fearful because he could've lost his son and he was angry that someone had dared to try to harm one of his children. Anyone who knew him knew he was a hard ass when it came to work, but when it came to his family, there was no mercy whatsoever. Anyone who went after them would pay dearly.

"Yeah, outside the restaurant. It was a sniper," Tim said.

"Oh my God," Jackie said in fear. She just kept imagining her son being shot down without him even knowing what was happening. It caused a sharp pain to go through her heart. Tim and Sarah were as much her children as if she'd brought them into the world herself. She could no more fathom losing them than she could Jared or Kayla.

"Mom, it's okay. Look at me, I'm fine. We're both fine," Tim assured her.

"Someone tried to kill you. You're not fine," Jackie said.

"Were they trying to kill you, son. Were you the target or was this just someone trying to create mayhem?" Vance asked. It really didn't matter as far as dealing with this piece of crap. Either way, the bastard was going to pay dearly, but if Tim was a target, Vance had to make sure he was protected.

Tim sighed. "I'd like to say it was mayhem motivated. I tried to tell myself and the police that when it first happened. But I don't think that was it. The gun was pointed at me. Sarah's boyfriend noticed a target dot on my head. Man, if he hadn't, I would've been killed. There's no way I would've noticed in time without his help."

"Oh, Jesus," Jackie whispered in fear and horror.

"Honey, it's okay. He's alright and he's gonna stay that way," Vance assured his wife before turning to his children. "You two are staying here until we figure this out and I'm calling Gibbs."

Tim groaned. He was afraid of that. "Do we have to involve Gibbs?" He didn't want Gibbs to know. Gibbs would find out about his parentage if he did and so would the rest of NCIS. It wasn't that he was ashamed of who his parents were. Far from it. He loved his parents very much. He loved them as though they were his parents from the day he was born. They might as well have been. They were better than his biological parents could ever have been, even his biological mother whom he loved and missed very dearly. But his father was the director of the agency he worked at. If people knew that, everything would change. They would think he got his job by being the director's son. They would think he didn't belong. Hell, some people already thought he didn't belong.

"Yes, Tim, he does because I'm going to be giving him point in this investigation, with me there to assist every step of the way," Vance said. He'd take lead if he could, but he knew SecNav would put an end to that. SecNav knew that Tim was his son. He'd had to disclose when he'd stepped forward as Director so that no one could accuse him of preferential treatment. "Look, I understand why you don't want anyone to know. I agreed to keep it a secret because I wanted you to be able to make your way at NCIS without being accused of being handed everything you've gotten. But all bets are off now. I care more about your life than I do about what a few idiots will think, and you should feel the same. The people that matter will know that you earned what you have."

"Your father's right. This is not something that will be played around with, Timothy. Gibbs will be told so that he can help us protect you," Jackie said firmly.

Tim nodded after a minute. He still didn't like it, but he realized he had no choice.

"I'm gonna go call Gibbs. I want protection set up immediately," Vance said before leaving the room.


	4. Chapter 4

An hour later, Tim was still sitting in the living room. Sarah had gone upstairs to keep Kayla and Jared busy. Tim watched as his mother shut all the windows and closed the windows. "Mom, there's no one out there."

"You don't know that. I'll bet you didn't think anyone was out there ready to shoot you earlier either," Jackie said as she continued what she was doing.

Tim sighed. He thought about saying that even if there were someone out there, shutting and the windows and shades wouldn't keep bullets out, but the last thing he wanted was to scare his mother even more. Instead, he stood up and walked over to his mother. He took her lightly by the arm so she was facing him. "Mom, it's okay."

Jackie looked at her son for a moment and then pulled him into her arms. "I can't lose you."

"You won't," Tim promised.

Jackie took a deep breath and pulled away. She needed to get herself together. She'd had her moment of weakness, but now she needed to be strong for her son. "You're damn right I won't. You're gonna do everything your father and Gibbs tell you, Got it?"

Tim smiled. He never thought he'd say it, but preferred it when she was barking out orders. That meant she would be okay. "Yes, ma'am."

"Alright, I'm going to go make sure the kids are away from the windows until protection gets here," Jackie said before leaving the room.

Just then there was a knock at the door.

Tim felt a knot develop in the pit of his stomach. He knew that was Gibbs and that he would have to tell the man the truth. He knew Gibbs wasn't going to be happy. If nothing else, he was going to be annoyed at it being kept from him for so long. Tim just hoped that was all he'd be mad about.

Vance came from the kitchen at that moment. "I got it. I'm gonna talk to him outside for a minute."

Tim nodded and sat down on the couch. He propped his feet up on the table and leaned back in an attempt to relax.

Vance, meanwhile, opened the front door and stepped outside. Unsurprisingly, Gibbs was there. "Hey, Gibbs. Thanks for coming."

"What's going on, Leon? What happened to your policy?" Gibbs asked. The first and only other time he'd gone to the director's house, the man hadn't been happy. He'd told Gibbs that he didn't like mixing work with his family.

"It went out the window a couple of hours ago," Vance said. Actually, if you wanted to get technical, it went out the window the minute Tim joined NCIS. That was the moment his work and his family started mixing. Still, he tried to keep work and family as separated as possible, and it had worked until now. "Someone tried to kill my son tonight."

Gibbs was both surprised and infuriated by what Vance had just told him. He'd met Vance's little boy. He was no older than ten. If there was one thing he hated, it was people who went after kids. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine. I know what you're thinking. It's not Jared," Vance said.

Gibbs frowned slightly. "You got another son I don't know about?"

"Yes, I do. I have four children, Gibbs. Though two of them can't technically be considered children. They're well over eighteen," Vance said.

"So your other son is the one that was attacked," Gibbs said. He'd recovered quickly from learning Vance had other children besides the two he'd met. After all, he didn't really know the director that well, so it wasn't too surprising to learn something new.

"Yeah. My two oldest kids had just had dinner. They were shot at coming out by a sniper," Vance said.

"And you're sure your boy was the target?" Gibbs asked.

"Positive. There was a laser on the gun and it was pointed right at him. The only reason he's alive is because someone he was with noticed. If not for that, he would've been killed," Vance said. It really got to him. In fact, the more time that passed, the more he realized just how close he came to losing his son. It was almost debilitating to think about. If he'd lost Tim tonight… He didn't even wanna think about what it would've done to him. He wasn't sure he could've survived it.

Gibbs could see that Vance was affected by the near loss of his son. The man was trying to hide it, and he was doing a relatively good job, but it was there. He couldn't completely hide it. "Any idea why someone would wanna hurt your son?"

"Well, I'm his father. That alone is enough to make him enemies," Vance said. He knew that there were plenty of people out there who would wanna hurt Tim simply because he was his son. That was why he wanted both him and Sarah close. His entire family could be in danger. "But there are other reasons this could've happened. He's an agent, Gibbs. My son works for NCIS."

Now that surprised Gibbs. He would've thought that if Vance had a son working for NCIS that everyone would know about it. "Your son works for you."

"He does. SecNav knows about it. He's alright with it as long as there's no nepotism detected. No one else at NCIS knows because he doesn't carry my name," Vance said. Tim and Sarah both carried their biological mother's name as a tribute to her. Tim had wanted that. He had been worried that by getting adopted, he was betraying his mother, so they'd all decided them him and Sarah would take her last name.

"Do I know him?" Gibbs couldn't help but wonder. If Vance's son really did work for NCIS, there was a good chance Gibbs did know him. It made him wonder who it was.

"You do. You'll probably be pretty shocked when you see him. Before that happens though, I want something understood," Vance said. He'd said the last part in his touch, ruthless director voice. "My son is no different than any other agent. He filled out an application, he went through the FLETC training, and he started off at the bottom. I didn't lift a finger help him."

"I get the point, Leon. Your son wasn't favored," Gibbs said.

"And I won't have him treated like he was. I won't have you or anyone else disrespecting him, but claiming he didn't earn what he has," Vance said firmly. He doubted Gibbs would think such a thing, especially since he was the one to hire Tim for his team, but he wanted it made clear anyway.

"Understood, Director," Gibbs said.

"Good. Come inside," Vance said before opening the door and leading the way inside.

Gibbs followed Vance inside the house. He stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he made it all the way inside. McGee was sitting on the couch looking mighty comfortable in Vance's house.


	5. Chapter 5

Gibbs was beyond shocked. The last thing he expected when he entered the Vance Home was to find McGee there looking mighty comfortable. Well, maybe comfortable was the wrong word. He did look pretty nervous, but it seemed more like it was Gibbs himself that made him uneasy rather than the environment. The younger man wasn't fazed by the environment at all. He was sitting on the couch with his feet wresting against the table like it was a common occurrence, like it was home.

It wasn't difficult to connect the dots. He'd come in to meet and NCIS agent that was also Vance's son, an agent he was supposed to know. He just never thought that agent would not only be a member of his team, but McGee. It was beyond surprising. Neither Vance nor McGee ever let anything slip that they were father and son. They never even hinted that they knew each other outside of the job.

Tim regarded his boss nervously. It had been several seconds since his boss entered the house. He kept waiting for the other man to say something, but all he did was continue to stare at him. Finally, Tim decided to break the ice. "Hi, Boss."

"I guess you're a better liar than I thought," Gibbs said. He always considered McGee to be a horrible liar, but that obviously wasn't true. He'd been lying for years.

"Gibbs," Vance warned.

"I didn't lie, Boss. I just didn't tell you who my parents really were. I told you my father was Navy. I think working for NCIS counts," Tim said.

Gibbs glared at his agent. "Don't play that game with me, McGee. You kept it from me." It wasn't that he thought he needed to know everything or that he was entitled to. He knew there were things his agents didn't tell him and he didn't expect him to. What got him was that McGee hadn't trusted him with the information

"It wasn't your business, Gibbs," Vance said with a glare of his own.

"It's okay, Dad. Yeah, I kept it a secret because I knew how I would be treated if I didn't. My father was still really high up when I joined NCIS. If I had told you I was his son back then, you would've assumed that I got in because of who my father was, especially given how green I was back then. But that's not what happened. No doors were opened for me. I unlocked and opened every single one of them myself," Tim said. He wanted to make that clear. He didn't want anyone, especially Gibbs, thinking he didn't earn what he had.

"You think I don't know that, McGee. I hired you for my team. No one pressured me into that. I hired you because I saw good in you and rule five exists for a reason. I know no one paved your way. I know because I watched how hard you worked to become the agent you are. You put up with DiNozzo's crap when a few words could've ended it all," Gibbs said. All McGee would've had to say was that he was Vance's son for DiNozzo's crap to be nipped in the bud, but he never did. He never once used his father's name to up his career or make things easier for him. Gibbs was proud of him for that. He was still kind of angry and hurt that his agent didn't trust him, but he certainly didn't think any less of the man for who his father happened to be.

"Believe me, the first time I heard his crap, I wanted to put a stop to it, especially after the Iraq business," Vance said. Contrary to what he'd said to Tim that day, he knew very well that DiNozzo had tricked his son into not volunteering for the Iraq trip. Though Tim wasn't going to volunteer anyway because Vance had made it clear he would not send him. Impropriety be damned, he wasn't sending his kid to Iraq. He would never let him risk his life like that. Not to mention that Jackie would've killed him if he even considered it."

"You weren't going to send me to Iraq," Tim said. Despite what Tony thought, he wasn't the reason Tim didn't volunteer. Truth be told, he did volunteer. He went to see his father right after he announced that he was looking for candidates. The second he entered the director's office, his father said 'no'. Tim didn't even get the chance to open his mouth.

"That's beside the point. DiNozzo had no business screwing with you that way," Vance said.

Gibbs watched the exchange between Vance and McGee. They were so at ease. He'd never seen or heard McGee so comfortable around someone. The fact that it was the director made it even more weird. But it made sense with the new information he had. They were father and son. Of course they would be so comfortable around each other. Sons felt comfortable around their fathers as long as they had good ones, and McGee did. No matter what Gibbs might think of Vance as a director, he'd seen him around his kids. He was a good father.

Tim turned back to Gibbs. "Thanks, Boss, for knowing that I earned what I have." He was very relieved by that. He wanted to believe Gibbs would see that he deserved everything he had, but he couldn't be sure.

Gibbs sat down in one of the chairs across from the couch. "You really thought I'd think anything else?"

"I hoped you wouldn't, but I couldn't be sure. And I realized that even if you didn't think less of me if you learned the truth, a lot of other people would. There are people at NCIS that already don't think I belong," Tim said. He'd heard what some of the other agents said when they thought he couldn't hear them. They thought he was useless. That he should be in Cyber Crimes or be given the boot.

"They're idiots," Gibbs said simply. Anybody who said that crap wasn't worth a damn. McGee belonged on his team. He wouldn't be there if he didn't.

"Maybe, but I worked too hard to be accused of getting preferential treatment," Tim said.

"So you were never going to tell me," Gibbs said. It wasn't a question.

"No," Tim replied.

Just then, Jackie came into the room. She immediately took in her son's position. "Okay, there must be something wrong with my sight because there's no way your feet are on my coffee table."

Tim blushed and immediately removed his feet. "Sorry, Mom."

Jackie sat down beside her son and turned to Gibbs. "Thanks for coming. We really need your help."

With that comment, Gibbs was brought back to the reality of why he'd been called to the Vance residence. He'd momentarily forgotten due to the surprise that his agent was Vance's son. It was time to get down to business. McGee needed protection.

It was then that it hit Gibbs. Someone was trying to kill his agent. That pissed him off. Some bastard was out there plotting the death of one of his people. Whoever it was, was going wish they were never born once he was done with them. "Tell me what happened."

Tim told the story once more about what happened at the restaurant. "I tried to tell myself that it wasn't me, that the killer just wanted to hurt anyone and that it was just a coincidence that he chose me."

"Rule thirty-nine," Gibbs said.

Jackie looked at her husband in confusion. She wasn't sure what the whole thing meant.

"Don't ask, baby," Vance said.

"How do you wanna handle this, Leon? We should go forward with the thought that it's about you," Gibbs said.

"And that means my entire family could be in danger," Vance said before looking at his wife.

The two seemed to have a silent conversation before Jackie finally spoke. "Whatever you think is best."

Vance turned back to Gibbs. "Guards around the clock until this is over."

Tim sighed unhappily. He wanted to argue. He really didn't want for them all to resorted to having guards follow them around, but his dad was right. This might not just be about him. He had to think about his mom and his younger siblings. They needed to be protected.

"The team is going to have to be brought up to speed as well. Not only will they be needed to figure this out, but if this isn't about you, Leon, it might be about us and they might be in danger too," Gibbs said.

Vance nodded.

"I'll get protection over here now," Gibbs said before getting up and leaving the room.


	6. Chapter 6

Gibbs finished making his calls outside and then stepped back inside the Vance house. He walked back into the living room and found Vance there alone. "Where's Tim?"

"Helping Jackie in the kitchen. Jackie's best way of keeping calm is to keep busy, so she's probably cleaning. Tim's in there helping her, both with cleaning and with keeping calm," Vance said.

"I got four agents on the way to work protection detail. Two agents will take the exits and two will sit in a car out front just in case," Gibbs said. It was a little more than what they'd usually do, but Tim was one of his and he was going to make sure every protection possible was given to him.

"Good. I've always tried not to favor my son when it comes to work, that's out the window now. I want my son protected no matter what the cost," Vance said.

"He will be. Anything floating off the top of your head about who might put a hit out on your son to get to you?" Gibbs asked. It still felt weird to refer to McGee as Vance's son. He'd known for less than an hour that that was what he was, so it still hadn't completely sunk in.

"I make a lot of enemies, Gibbs. I'm the director of a government agency. I deal with people all over the world, and a lot of those people don't like the decisions I make. Any of them could be responsible. I can't think of just one off the top of my head," Vance said.

Gibbs sat down in a chair across form Vance. "Well, whoever it was must have been watching him. That's the only way they could've known were he'd be."

Vance thought for a minute. "You're right. Tim didn't even know he was gonna be at that restaurant until after he left NCIS. Sarah ambushed him with her boyfriend."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Ambushed?"

Vance smirked. "Let's just say the men in this family are very overprotective. No one who dates my daughter gets away with anything less than an extensive interrogation, threats from both me and Tim, and complete background check."

Gibbs nodded curtly. He had a feeling he'd have been the same way. If Kelly had lived long enough to date, he was positive he would've reacted the same way to anyone she dated. He was, however, a little surprised that Tim would react that way. Tim was protective of his sister, but he wasn't the type to get macho and threaten people. "You I can, but it's hard to see McGee act that way."

"Don't let my son fool you. He may be nervous around certain people and he's the kindest person you ever met most of the time, but when someone he loves is on the line, he will show you just how protective he can be," Vance said.

"So you've never met this guy before?" Gibbs asked.

"Not yet, but I will. At the very least, I owe him a thank you for saving my son," Vance said. He hated it, but he might just have to give this guy a break that he never gave any of Sarah's other boyfriends since he'd saved Tim's life.

"Well, you'll get the chance. I wanna talk to him myself, find out what happened from his point of view. Uh, I called Tony and Ziva. Like I said before, this could be about a case we worked, so as soon as they're brought up to speed, I'm going to have them look into old case files," Gibbs said.

"There's someone else I need you to look into," Vance said before looking around to make sure no one was around. "His name's is John McGee. I don't expect it to be him. He should still be in prison, but just in case it is him, I want you to check him out."

"Tim and Sarah's father," Gibbs guessed.

"I'm their father," Vance bit out defensively. He couldn't help it. Whenever someone referred to that piece of crap as Tim and Sarah's father, he got extremely pissed. He was never a father to them. Sarah never even met him.

"Wasn't trying to imply otherwise, Leon," Gibbs said. That was as close to an apology as he gave anyone. He had misspoken. He should've said birth father or something like that.

Vance nodded. "McGee supplied his DNA to create Tim and Sarah, but that's as far as it goes. Sarah never met him and Tim wishes he never did."

"He abused him," Gibbs said. It wasn't a question. He was breaking his rule about assuming, but it was pretty clear. McGee was in prison and from what Vance was saying, it was obvious he did something to his son.

Vance nodded. "He's a worthless son of a bitch! He beat Tim and his mother every day. Melissa was a friend of mine. We grew up together. The day she introduced me to McGee, I knew something wasn't right about him. But I told myself it wouldn't last. I figured he'd be gone in less than a month. But he wasn't. He was good at manipulating people. He managed to get her to count on only him, as all abusers do. It wasn't long before she found out she was pregnant either.

Gibbs sighed sadly. He was thinking of his agent being in that position and he hated it. No child should ever be born in the middle of that kind of hell, but it made Gibbs sad and angry as hell that someone he cared about was. "How long did it go on for?"

"For Tim? Seven years. Melissa was pregnant with Sarah when it finally reached the final escalation. McGee beat her so bad that she nearly miscarried. If Tim hadn't picked up the phone and called me, he probably would've killed her and the baby," Vance said.

"So that's how it happened? You got custody after that?" Gibbs asked.

"No. That didn't happen for a few more years. I finally convinced Melissa to press charges. I did have to threaten to take Tim from her though," Vance said. He would've too. He would've found a way to get Tim out of that hellhole. He would've done it earlier too, but he could never prove what was going on. He knew it was happening, but there was no actual proof until the last incident. "Anyway, Melissa developed cancer a couple years later and it claimed her. That's when I got custody. She left me guardianship. I adopted them a year later.

"Why do Tim and Sarah have his name?" Gibbs asked. Those two kids should've been given Vance's name. They were his in every way that could ever matter. They shouldn't have the name of their abuser.

"Tim wanted to keep it in honor of his mother. She was still 'McGee' when she died. She never filed for divorce. I guess she could never fully let go of him. Tim was still young and he didn't really understand that his mother had another last name before getting married. Also, it was his grandfather's name. Tim loved both of his grandparents very much," Vance said. To this day, Tim had a good relationship with his grandmother, just as he had with his grandfather before he died. They were nothing like their son, so Vance didn't keep them apart.

"It doesn't affect him to say it every day?" Gibbs asked surprised.

"It doesn't seem to, probably because of his grandfather. Keeping the name was just his way of saying that even though he was adopted, the family he had before was still his family," Vance said.

Just then there was a knock on the door.

"That's either the protection detail or Tony and Ziva," Gibbs said.

Vance nodded and got up to answer the door.


	7. Chapter 7

ony arrived at Vance's house about a half an hour after Gibbs called him. He knew the man was going to be pissed. He told him ten minutes. Unfortunately, he'd been out with a girl and had to drop her off. That alone had taken ten minutes. It took another twenty to get over to Vance's house.

Tony quickly packed the car on the side of the street and got out. In front of him, Ziva was also getting out. He immediately went over to her. "Hey. Any idea what this is about?" It was not every day they got called the director's house. This was a first actually. It meant that something big had gone down.

"Not at all. Gibbs just told me to get down here and then he hung up," Ziva said.

"Same here. Well, we better get inside before he kills us," Tony said. He then looked around the property. "Well, it looks like McGee hasn't gotten here yet, so he'll be killed more than we will."

Ziva rolled her eyes at Tony's antics and followed Tony to the door.

When they got to the door, Tony rang the bell and waited for an answer. He didn't have long to wait because the door was opened seconds later by Vance. "Hello, Director."

"DiNozzo, David. Come in," Vance said before stepping aside to let them in.

Tony and Ziva walked inside and followed Vance into the living room where Gibbs was with McGee and a couple of other agents. Tony recognized both agents as those who worked mostly protective detail. "Boss?"

Gibbs looked over and glared at both Tony and Ziva. "What the hell took you two so long? I said ten minutes!"

"I had to drop my date off first. I went as fast as I could, but it still took time," Tony said before looking at Tim. "And how are you here? I didn't see your car out front."

"Let's just say I got my own means of transportation," Tim said. Metro had dropped him and Sarah off because they were worried it wasn't safe for him to drive anywhere alone, and they weren't exactly wrong.

"What is going on, Gibbs?" Ziva asked.

Gibbs turned to the two agents assigned for protection. "You two get to your posts. The other team should be here shortly and they'll be parked out front."

"Got it, sir," one of the agents said before headed in opposite directions towards the front and back doors.

"Is somebody after you, Director?" Tony asked Vance. He thought that had to be the case. Why else would protection be put up around the house?

"No. They're after me," Tim said. He supposed they could be after his father, but it was him they were gunning for specifically.

"What?" Ziva and Tony asked in unison.

"Someone shot at me tonight," Tim said.

"Oh my God! Are you alright, McGee?" Ziva asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I wasn't it, though it came very close," Tim said. As much as he hated to admit it, it still shook him how close he came to dying. If Sarah's boyfriend had just been a few seconds later in noticing, he would be dead right now.

"Who would wanna kill you?" Tony asked.

"The same thousand people that would wanna kill any one of us, DiNozzo," Gibbs said.

"Yeah, but why'd they go after him. I'd think they'd come after you first, Boss," Tony said.

"Wait, if McGee is the one in danger, why is protection being set up at the director's house?" Ziva asked in confusion. It did not make sense. It should be McGee's house they were securing, not the director's.

Tim shifted uncomfortably and took a deep breath. "We're securing this house because this is where I'll be staying in the near future."

"Why?" Tony asked confused. He couldn't think of any conceivable reason for McGee to stay with the director's family. He couldn't even see McGee being okay with that. The man got nervous around anyone with authority. He was going to be on eggshells in Vance's home.

"Because it's my home too," Tim said. He didn't live there and hadn't grown up there, as he was raised in Chicago and then in San Diego, but it was his family's home and he and Sarah were there all the time, so he considered it home.

"What?" Tony and Ziva both asked.

"There… There are some things you don't know about me. The biggest is that I was adopted. After my mother died, Sarah and I were adopted by our godfather, Leon Vance," Tim said. There, he'd said it. It was hard. Tony and Ziva were the first people he'd actually told himself. Gibbs had been told by his father. He'd just had to deal with the reaction. Tony and Ziva he'd had to tell himself and it was hard to get the words out because he knew they'd be upset.

Tony looked at Tim for a minute and then laughed. "Nice one, Probie. Who knew you had a sense of humor."

"Does anybody look like they're laughing, DiNozzo?" Vance asked.

Tony's smile faded after a minute and he looked back at Tim. "Y…You're his kid? You're the director's son? You lied to us!"

Tim wasn't surprised by the reaction. He'd gotten the same reaction from Gibbs. "I didn't lie. I just didn't tell you."

"Why? You don't think we deserved to know? I think I deserved to know that I was working beside the director's kid!" Tony yelled.

"Tony, stop," Ziva said. She was shocked by this information as well and she was also a little hurt that McGee didn't tell them, but she understood it. She knew what it was like to work at an agency where your father was the director. She could see why her friend and colleague wouldn't want anyone to know.

"You better damn well stop," Gibbs said. He understood to a certain extent why Tony was upset, as he had been too, but the things Tony was saying were very close to what Tim was afraid of in the first place. He was acting like somehow Tim was different than the rest of them.

"First of all, he was not the director at the time I came to work for NCIS. He's been director less than a year," Tim said.

"He was still high up! He could make things happen. He could…"

"He could what! Make things happen for me? Put my career on the fast track? Don't even think of accusing me of that! I worked my ass off to get to where I am! As Gibbs so elegantly put it not too long ago, I put up with all your crap for years and I never said a world! I was given the worst jobs we had all because I was a probie and I did them without complaint. You really think I would've done all that if my father paved my way? I earned everything I have!" Tim yelled. He was so riled up that he didn't even notice his mother and Sarah come in from downstairs.

"Of course you did. Who's saying otherwise?" Jackie asked. She'd come in while her son was mid rant. All she'd heard was that someone was claiming Leon had streamlined Tim's career, just as he feared. She didn't know who it was, but whoever it was, was about to get a piece of her mind."

Everyone in the room was glaring at Tony, telling Jackie exactly who it was.

Jackie looked glared at Tony and advanced on him. "You accusing my son of taking the easy way out?"

"I…"

"Let me tell you something. My kids are not spoiled. They may have opportunities that others have, but they have never had anything handed to them! Tim has worked for everything he ever got!" Jackie said angrily.

Tony backed up as Jackie continued to advance on him. "Mrs. Vance, I didn't…"

"You think my son got into MIT and John's Hopkins because of Leon? Well, he didn't! I got all of that because he worked for it! The same with his job at NCIS. Leon would never pave Tim's way and Tim would never let him! So don't you ever accuse my son of not deserving what he has, do you understand me?" Jackie asked.

"Y…yes, Ma'am," Tony stuttered. He'd been yelled at a lot in his life, but he'd never been so intimidated by it as he was just now. Vance's wife was one frightening woman.

"DiNozzo, I suggest you take a walk and pull your head out of your ass before someone tears it off!" Gibbs said with a glare. They were all angry. He was, so were Leon and Tim, but none of that compared Jackie's anger obviously. She was ready to kill Tony. Gibbs wasn't surprised. It was clear she was very protective of her kids.

Tony didn't need to be told twice. He knew one false move and Mrs. Vance would likely kill him, so he headed towards the door.


	8. Chapter 8

After Tony left, Tim went into the kitchen to cool off. Usually, he'd go for a walk himself, but he knew neither his parents nor Gibbs was going to allow that, not when there was a price on his head. So he settled for taking a few minutes in the kitchen to himself.

Tim sat down at the table. He was still reeling from his spat with Tony. He had been so angry before, but now he was hurt. He always knew that people who think the worst of him if they found out who his father was, but he hoped his team would stick by him. He worried about it in the back of his mind, but he hoped that that worry would turn out to be false. It cut deeply that Tony had been the first to prove him right about the way people would see him.

"McGee?"

Tim turned around to see Ziva in the doorway. "Are you next?"

Ziva went over and sat down across from her friend. "No, I am not next. I came to see if you were alright."

Tim laughed humorlessly. "Well, let's just say I've had better days." First he had someone try to kill him and now he had a colleague turn against him. No, today was not his best day.

"He did not mean it, McGee. He is just angry that you kept it from us," Ziva said. She made no excuse for what Tony had said. He was wrong to allude to the notion that Tim had not earned his place at NCIS, but she doubted he meant it. He had to know that McGee earned his place, for every reason that Jackie Vance mentioned. McGee had worked very hard to earn his place. Even after she had gotten there, he was still working to gain respect, especially Tony's. Tony had to see that. That was why she couldn't believe he actually believed what he'd said.

"I think he did. I think he meant every word. What about you? What do you think?" Tim asked.

Ziva sighed. "I cannot deny being hurt that you did not trust us, but I understand why. I know why you did not tell us. I get it."

"You do?" Tim asked.

Ziva nodded. "You and I are a lot alike, McGee, more so than I ever could've imagined. Our personalities differ of course, but our circumstances couldn't be more the same. We both have important fathers, we both chose to follow in their footsteps, and they both became our bosses."

Tim couldn't believe it, but he hadn't thought about that before. Ziva really did know exactly how he felt. She was the only one he worked with that could. She knew what it meant to be the director's kid. "At Mossad, did people look at you the way Tony looked at me today?"

"You are asking if I was treated different because I was the director's daughter. Yes, I was. People looked at me either with fear because of it or with resentment. There were those that wondered if I belonged. It never lasted long after they saw me in action, but it was there and it was difficult," Ziva said.

Tim sighed and leaned back in his chair. "That's what I was trying to avoid, you know? I don't wanna be just the director's son. I wanna be respected for my actions. I knew that wouldn't happen if people knew the truth."

"I understand. If I could've hid who I was from everyone I worked with at Mossad, I probably would have as well. Look, Tony will come around. He will realize that he was wrong to say what he did to you. As for the rest, they do not matter," Ziva said.

"Tony matters, Ziva. His opinion matters to me and he sees me as someone who doesn't deserve what he has," Tim said. He then got up and headed out of the room.

Ziva thought about trying to stop him, but there really wasn't much more she could say, so she let him go.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tony was standing by his car outside the Vance house. He'd gone for his walk, actually, he'd gone for more than one. All it seemed to do was make him more angry. McGee had made a fool out of him, out of all of them really, but mostly him. Every time he made a joke or played a practical joke on McGee, he was digging himself a whole with Vance and McGee knew it. McGee said he hadn't said anything, but he probably did. He was probably telling Daddy everything he did. That was probably why Vance disliked him so much.

Tony's thoughts were cut off when he heard Vance's front door open. He looked up to see Ziva headed his way."

Ziva made her way over to Tony. "Good, you're here. I thought I was going to have to come look for you. Gibbs wants us to go home for the night. Tomorrow, we will be going to McGee's apartment to see if there is any sign of anyone watching him.""

"Fine," Tony said before standing up straight and walking around to the driver's side of the car to get in.

"You were an ass, Tony," Ziva said irritably.

Tony stopped what he was doing and stared at Ziva in disbelief. "Me? He's the one that's done nothing but lie to us for years!"

"He did not lie! He simply did not tell us who his parents were. Have you told us everything about your family?" Ziva asked.

"That's different! My father is not the director of NCIS! I had the right to know that!" Tony yelled.

"Why? Why did you have the right to know?" Ziva asked.

"Because it affects me! It affects the way the director sees me!" Tony said angrily.

"What? Oh, I get it. This is not about McGee or him hiding the truth from us. This is about you being unable to keep yourself from acting like a juvenile ass," Ziva realized.

"If I had known…"

"You would not have acted like such a juvenile ass with McGee? You shouldn't have needed to know for that," Ziva said before walked away from Tony and towards her car.


	9. Chapter 9

The next day, Gibbs pulled up to the house of Penelope Langston. He'd gotten her information from Tim's file. He'd put her down as an emergency contact. It made sense. She was his grandmother. He couldn't put the Vance's down because it would oust his secret. Besides, they would've known if anything happened to him right away anyway.

Gibbs parked, got out of the car, and went to the front door. He knocked and waited for an answer.

Seconds later an older woman with short, curly dark hair answered the door. She looked rushed and a bit annoyed. "Whatever you want, make it quick. I'm on my way out."

Gibbs took out his badge and held it out up for her. "Special Agent Gibbs, NC…"

"What's wrong with Timothy?" Penny demanded. She knew who the man in front of her was as soon as he introduced himself. Her grandson had told her all about the people he worked with.

"Don't recall saying anything was," Gibbs said.

Penny narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't toy with me, Agent Gibbs. Timothy is my grandson. If something has happened to him, I demand to know what it is."

"He's fine. I'm here to ask you about your son," Gibbs said. He'd done what Leon asked and contacted the prison John McGee was in. He'd been released from prison a year ago and had dropped off the grid. He was hoping the Langston woman knew where he was.

Penny's face darkened. "I don't have a son. My son is dead. That piece of garbage that resembles him is in prison where he belongs."

"Not anymore. He was released a year ago," Gibbs said.

Penny stared at him for a moment and then walked inside, leaving the door open for Gibbs to follow. "Whose idiotic decision was that?"

Gibbs walked inside, closed the door and followed Penny through the living room and into the kitchen. "You're telling me you didn't know?"

Penny went over the cabinet and pulled out a couple of coffee mugs. "Coffee."

Gibbs nodded curtly. He was never one to turn down coffee.

Penny went over to the coffee pot and began pouring two cups of coffee. "I haven't seen nor heard from John since the day he was carted off to prison. He never tried to contact me, probably because he knew it wouldn't be well received."

"That's quite a thing to say about your own son," Gibbs commented. He wasn't judging her, just making an observation. He'd seen this kind of situation before and a lot of times the families sided with their abusing relatives.

Penny handed him his coffee and took a sip of her own. "It's no less than he deserves. I know people say that you're supposed to stand by your kids no matter what, but those people obviously never had a son like John. When Timothy was five, John cracked his skull."

Gibbs barely managed to stop from flinching. He knew from Leon that Tim had been abused, but knowing that was different then hearing that his bastard father had actually injured him so severely. He was picturing a five-year-old child being beaten so badly that his skull was cracked. It made him wanna crack someone else's skull. "So you knew he was being abused and you didn't do anything."

"Yes, I knew he was being abused, so did my husband and Timothy's godfather. We pleaded with Melissa every time to stop it, but she wouldn't even admit it was happening. She and John both claimed Timothy fell. No one could prove them wrong," Penny said sadly.

Gibbs was absolutely disgusted. He knew that women could be really stupid when it came to covering for their abusive husbands, but how she protect the man who was abusing her son? How could she sit back while her little boy was being tortured like that?

"It wasn't until that last incident that we were finally able to put a stop to it. Timothy admitted to Le… his godfather what his father had been doing," Penny said. She'd cut herself off mid-sentence because she was about to say Leon's name and she knew her grandson didn't want anyone at NCIS knowing about their connection. It was clear that Gibbs knew some of Timothy's history, but if he didn't know his connection to Leon, she wasn't going to tell him.

"That was a brave thing to do," Gibbs said as he took a sip of his coffee. It took a lot of courage for a seven-year-old boy to admit that his father was abusing him.

"Yes, it was. Timothy is nothing if not brave. I'm sure you find that hard to believe with how he was when he first came to you. He told me he was nervous and stuttered a lot. You can thank John for that. Timothy got a good life after John was sent to prison, but what his father did to him was always with him," Penny said.

"I always knew he was brave. Just didn't know how brave," Gibbs said. He'd always seen McGee… no, Tim, as brave. He wouldn't call him McGee anymore. He wouldn't even think of him like that. He knew Tim had chosen to keep the name to honor some of his family members, but Gibbs refused to associate him with the man that tortured him as a child. He would be Tim from here on out.

"Has John approached Timothy? Is that why you're asking about him?" Penny asked.

"No, but I wanna make sure it stays that way. I'm not gonna let him be victimized by the bastard again," Gibbs said. He wasn't going to tell her about the shooting. That was for Tim to do if he so decided.

"Well, on that we agree, Agent Gibbs. I need to inform Timothy and Sarah's adoptive parents about this," Penny said. Leon and Jackie needed know that John was out so that they could protect Timothy and Sarah if need be. Timothy was more than capable of defending himself, but John didn't play fair. He would find a way to get to him. Leon and Jackie needed to be prepared. Although, Leon might already know since Gibbs seemed to.

"No need. I'm headed there right now to tell them myself," Gibbs said. He hadn't yet told the Vance's that McGee was out of prison, but that was his next stop.

"So then you know about Timothy's father?" Penny asked.

Gibbs nodded. "Don't think any less of him."

"Good. I would have to give you a piece or two of my mind if you did. Find John and make sure he can't hurt my grandchildren again, Gibbs."

"That's a promise," Gibbs said. Even if McGee wasn't responsible for the attempt on Tim's life, he was going to find him. He was not going to let that bastard hurt Tim ever again.


	10. Chapter 10

Vance opened his front door to see Gibbs on the other side. "Gibbs, come in."

"Leon," Gibbs greeted as he walked inside

Vance closed the door behind him. "You have anything?"

"On Tim's shooter, I'm not sure, but there's something you need to know. Uh, where is everyone?" Gibbs asked. He didn't wanna say anything if Vance's younger children were nearby, or even Tim for that matter. That was something he should hear from Leon when they were alone

"Finishing up breakfast. What is it I need to know?" Vance asked.

"McGee's out of prison. He was released a year ago," Gibbs said. He waited for the fallout. He knew Vance was not going to be happy about this information.

"A year? He's been out a year?! Why am I just hearing about this now?!" Vance asked angrily. He hadn't really thought McGee was released. He'd only had Gibbs check into it because he wanted to cover every angle. He thought he'd find out that John McGee was still rotting in prison like deserved.

"Someone obviously dropped the ball," Tim said.

"You think?!" Vance yelled angrily. He was seriously pissed right now. He should've been notified as soon as McGee was released, or at the very least, Tim should've been. You didn't just let someone like that go without informing his victims and their families. "Where the hell is he?"

"Don't know. I'm looking for him now. I just got back from talking to his mother. I thought she might know where he was," Gibbs said.

Vance shook his head, immediately rejecting the idea. "No, if Penny even knew he was out of prison, he would've told me, or she would've told Tim at least. She testified at John's trial. She helped to put him away. She and her husband both turned their backs on him when he nearly killed Melissa and Sarah. They would've done it sooner, but Tim was still stuck in that house.

"Yeah, I know. Miss Langston made it very clear that she wouldn't be helping her son in any way," Gibbs said. He believed her too. He had no doubt that a mother would lie for her son, but this mother wasn't doing that. She didn't even seem to like her son, not that he could blame her.

"I want the bastard found, Gibbs. He did this," Vance was sure. There was no way this was a coincidence. John McGee had at least a hand in what happened with his kids the night before.

"I agree," Gibbs said. Normally he had a rule about assuming, but he also had a rule about coincidences, plus, his gut was telling him McGee was involved.

Vance sighed and sat down on the couch. "I don't believe this. I thought Tim was finally free from that son of a bitch. What kind of idiots would let him out?"

"Answered your own question, Leon. Look, we'll find him and we'll make him pay," Gibbs said. That was a promise. He cared about Tim too and he wasn't going to let that abusive son of a bitch hurt him again.

"I'm gonna have to tell Tim, Sarah too. She doesn't know what he did. I always thought she would ask about him and we'd have to tell her, but she never asked. She never seemed to care to find out about her biological father. She knew about Melissa because Tim loved her and he talked about her all the time," Vance said. It was something he was grateful for. Sarah never knew her biological father and never had to go through life knowing what an abusive bastard he was like Tim did. He had to battle with what McGee was every day of his life. Even now, Tim's experiences with abuse shaped him.

"Tim turned McGee in for abusing him, right?" Gibbs asked. That was what Penny had told him.

Vance nodded. "He had a little coaching from me. He was scared. Why wouldn't he be? He was seven-years-old. He wouldn't say anything at first. He wouldn't even speak. I sat with him for a few hours and told him everything would be okay. I told him I wouldn't let anyone hurt him again. All he had to do was say what happened everything would be okay. He believed me."

"Because you were his father figure even then," Gibbs said. It was obvious that Vance had always been the real male role model in Tim's life. It was strange. Gibbs had never really seen Vance as anything put a hard ass director whom he didn't totally trust since he became director, but now he was seeing a new side to him. He'd seen it slightly that first time he'd seen him with his younger children, but it was coming out more so now. Vance was more than just a director of a government agency. He was a loving husband and father. He'd dedicated his life to protecting Tim and Sarah.

"Well, when your other choice of a role model is John McGee, you need someone else to fill that void," Vance said.

"Why is he being brought up?"

They both turned to see Tim in the doorway. Vance beckoned his son forward with his finger. "Son, come here."

"Did you tell him?" Tim asked as he walked forward. There was some fear and anger in his voice. He didn't want Gibbs to know about his father. He didn't want the man thinking less of him because of something that happened to him when he was a boy. And they would. Well, maybe not think less of him, but they'd certainly see him differently. He knew that from experience. Whenever someone found out he was abused, their whole demeanor changed. They treated him like he was going to break. But he wasn't. He wasn't some helpless victim, not anymore. He'd survived what happened to him. He would never forget it, but that didn't make him weak.

"I had to. I couldn't be sure that he wasn't responsible for the attempt on your life," Vance said.

Tim frowned. "It can't be him. He's in prison."

"Not anymore. We just found out he was released a year ago," Vance said.

Tim's flew open in shock and horror. "A year?! He's been out a year?!"

"Yeah? And some idiot decided not to tell us," Vance said through gritted teeth. Whoever was responsible for that was going to answer to him. He should've been told so he could protect his family.

Tim collapsed on the couch next to his father. He wasn't afraid, he was overwhelmed and angry. He was mad that the bastard was out to cause him problems again. He knew John would get out eventually, but it seemed way too soon. He supposed it would feel like that no matter how long the man was in though.

"We're gonna find him. Tim. He's not gonna hurt you again," Gibbs promised.

"I'm not afraid of him. I'm not a little kid he can bully and abuse anymore! Let him try to come at me," Tim said angrily.

"Like hell! You're not gonna egg him on. He's coming at you with guns," Vance said.

"I need to get out of here," Tim said before standing up and heading out of the room.


	11. Chapter 11

Vance had just shown Gibbs out and closed the door behind him when Jackie entered the room. "Leon, what's going on? I heard Tim yelling not too long ago."

Vance sighed and turned to face his wife. "He's upset."

"Well, that's obvious. Why, other than the fact that someone is after him?" Jackie asked.

"Where are the others," Vance asked. He wanted to know that his other kids weren't around to overhear, especially Sarah. He didn't want her finding out about John McGee from overhearing it.

"They're cleaning up from breakfast," Jackie said. That was the deal with her making a big breakfast on weekends. She would cook and the others would clean.

Vance motioned to the couch and led the way. He sat down and waited for Jackie to do the same before speaking. "John McGee is out of prison. Gibbs just told me he was released a year ago.

Jackie stared at her husband in disbelief. "John McGee? You're telling me that the son of a bitch that abused our son is on the loose?" She'd never actually met John McGee, a fact he should be grateful for, but she'd heard about the things he'd done to Tim and how he'd almost killed Sarah. If she ever did come into contact with the bastard, she couldn't guarantee he'd live through the encounter.

"It seems so," Vance said.

"And he's been out a year? Why are we just finding out about this now?" Jackie asked angrily. They should've been told as soon as McGee was released. They had the right to know that the monster who'd tortured their son was on the loose.

"Because someone was an idiot! Believe me, I plan to raise hell over it," Vance said.

"And you think he's the one who tried to kill Tim? His own blood?" Jackie asked. She used the word 'blood to describe what Tim was to John McGee because she refused to call him his son. She would never see Tim as that man's son. Tim was her son and Leon's son. They'd taken care of him every day. They'd loved him and helped him to become the remarkable man he was now. He was theirs.

"Blood's never mattered to McGee. The only thing that matters to him is his own ego. He beat Tim and Melissa to build himself up. Having a kid was nothing more to him than having control over someone," Vance said.

Jackie sighed. "No wonder Tim sounded so angry. The man that tormented him is out there."

"I think he feels cornered. He feels like he's once again at McGee's mercy. He wants to fight back this time though. He wants to prove he's not a victim anymore. But the way he wants to do it would put him in danger and I won't allow that," Vance said. He understood his son's need to prove that he was stronger this time around, even though in his opinion, Tim had nothing to prove. He'd probably feel the same way if he were in Tim's position. But the way Tim wanted to do it was too dangerous. He could get hurt, and that wasn't acceptable.

"Neither will I. I'm gonna go talk to him," Jackie said before standing up. She was about to go, but then she thought about something and turned back to her husband. "Uh, what are we going to do about Sarah? She needs to know what's going on."

"I know. One 'kid' at a time. Go talk to Tim. We can figure out how to tell Sarah later," Vance said. Alright, he was putting it up a little. He wasn't ready to tell his little girl that her biological father was a wife and child beating bastard.

Jackie nodded and headed out of the room.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim was in his room at his parents' house seething. Normally when he was this angry, he'd go for a walk to try to cool off, but he couldn't. That was something else he could thank the son of a bitch he once called a father for. He couldn't leave the house without protection detail because John was out there somewhere trying to make his life miserable.

Tim suddenly heard a knock on his door. "Go away!" He knew he sounded like to a petulant teenager saying it, but he really didn't wanna talk to anyone right now. Not that he really expected his childish request to be listened to.

Sure enough, the door opened and Jackie walked inside. "That didn't work when you were sixteen and it won't work now.

"I don't wanna talk, Mom," Tim said.

"Too bad," Jackie said before walking over, pushing her son's feet off the bed and sitting down where they once were. "I know you're upset, but you can't let him do this to you. Don't let him win like this."

Tim laughed humorlessly. "Mom, he's already won."

"That's not true."

"Yeah, it is. Look around you, Mom. He has us all locked in this house, surrounded by agents, wondering what he's going to do next. He's turned us into the prisoners. He's out there laughing his ass off while we're locked away in here, cowering in fear," Tim said. That was what infuriated him. It wasn't that John was out of prison or even that he'd tried to kill him. It was that they were giving him exactly what he wanted by staying cooped up like this.

"We are not cowering! We are protecting ourselves. There's a difference," Jackie said.

"It kinda seems the same," Tim said.

Jackie sighed and grabbed her son's hand. "I know this is hard for you. It would be hard for you either way. You're an agent. Staying cooped up goes against everything you are, and I know it's worse now because of who is likely responsible. But I want you to know that it doesn't make you a coward. Protecting yourself doesn't make you a coward," Jackie said.

"Maybe not, but he sees it that way," Tim said.

"Who cares what he thinks? He doesn't matter! He's never mattered!" Jackie said firmly.

"It matters. It matters because he's laughing at me, and because he's making me his victim again. He may not be striking me, but he's got me trapped. He knows it too. He knows he has me beat," Tim said.

"Tim…"

"I don't wanna talk about this anymore. I just wanna be alone for a while. Please, Mom," Tim begged. He'd had enough. He just wanted to be alone.

If she thought it would help, Jackie would've stayed and continued to try to reason with her son, but she knew that it wouldn't work right now. Tim needed time alone to deal with everything. So she squeezed his hand one last time before getting up and leaving the room.


	12. Chapter 12

Tony pulled his car up to McGee's apartment building and saw Ziva waiting for him by her car. He was still in a sour mood. He was angry at McGee for keeping the truth about his relationship with Vance a secret and he was angry at the others for not being angry.

Tony approached Ziva. "Let's get this over with."

Ziva narrowed her eyes at him for a minute but said nothing and led the way towards the apartment building. She walked inside and headed up to the second floor. She stopped at the second door in and opened it with the key McGee had given her the night before.

Tony followed Ziva inside. "You check the bedroom. I'll look out here."

"Fine," Ziva said before heading down the hall.

Tony put on a pair of gloves as not to contaminate anything and began his search. He started with the bookshelf by McGee's desk. It was the best place to hide a bug or small camera. He searched through the entire bookshelf and found nothing out of the ordinary. All that was there was a bunch of books. Given that it was a bookshelf, that made sense.

Tony glanced over at the desk and caught a glimpse of a photo. He picked up and looked at it. There was a little boy who looked to be around nine or ten standing with a much younger Vance.

Tony couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy when he saw that photo. McGee looked happy standing there with his dad and Vance looked happy as well. McGee obviously had relationship with the man. It made him jealous because he never had that kind of relationship with his father. He would never admit it, but maybe jealously was part of the reason he was so angry. McGee had grown up with everything.

Ziva came out at that moment. "There is nothing in the bedroom. Did you find anything?"

Tony immediately put the picture back where he found it. "No, but I didn't get that far. I checked the bookshelf and found nothing."

"Alright, well, check the rest of the living room. I shall do the kitchen and dining room," Ziva said before walking away

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Gibbs walked into an interrogation room where Sarah's boyfriend, Brad Collins was waiting. "Mr. Collins."

"Hello. I can only guess I'm here about the shooting from last night," Brad said.

"Good guess," Gibbs said before sitting down across from him. "From everything I gathered, you were the first to realize what was happening."

"No, sir, that was Tim. He's the one who realized there was a gun. I just saw the laser beam. I thought it was a laser pen or something. I know that may seem stupid to you, but I'm not a cop. I didn't automatically assume someone was trying to kill somebody. I just that it was some kid messing around," Brad explained.

"And you managed to get Tim's attention with it seconds before the shots were fired," Gibbs said. He had a hard time believing that. That was one hell of a coincidence and he didn't believe in those.

"It was pure dumb luck. I guess someone out there was just looking out for Tim. I'm glad. I only just met him, but he seems like a good guy, plus it would've killed Sarah to lose her brother," Brad said.

"Who knew you were going out to dinner and where?" Gibbs asked. He knew that Tim didn't know, but perhaps Brad or Sarah had told someone else, someone who was watching the couple, or maybe they were followed. Of course that was assuming Brad here had nothing to do with it and Gibbs wasn't sure about that.

"No one. I'd been working for weeks to get Sarah to introduce me to her family. She kept putting me off. She said the men in her family were over protective. Well, actually, she called them sexist psychos, but you get the point. Anyway, finally, I convinced her by saying we'd start one at a time. I suggested going out to dinner with her brother," Brad said.

"So it was your idea to invite Tim to dinner," Gibbs stated before quickly filing that information away in his brain.

"Yeah. That was a few days ago. Sarah didn't tell him then though. She said she didn't want to give him a chance to work on his interrogation skills, so she was going to call him last minute. I didn't think that was right, but he was her brother. Who was I to argue?" Brad asked.

"And you didn't tell anyone else where you were going?" Gibbs asked.

"No, I didn't even tell Sarah until this morning. I wanted to go someplace nice and I couldn't make up mind on where," Brad said.

"Have you felt like anyone has been following you when you're with Sarah?" Gibbs asked.

"Following us? No. But again, it's not something I would really think about. I'm not a cop," Brad said.

"Alright," Gibbs said before standing up.

"So we're good here? I can go?" Brad asked.

"Yup. I'll have an agent come in and escort you," Gibbs said before leaving the room. He went back down to the bullpen where he found Tony and Ziva at their desks.

"Boss, McGee's place was a bust. No sign of anyone watching him," Tony said.

Gibbs went and sat down at his desk. "DiNozzo, I want you to look into a Brad Collins. He's Sarah's boyfriend and he alerted Tim to the shooter. I wanna know everything there is to know about him, particularly if he has any connection to John McGee. I also want a tail put on Collins before he leaves here within the next ten minutes."

"McGee? As in a relation to our McGee?" Tony asked.

Gibbs ignored the question and addressed Ziva. "Ziva, I want the same with McGee only I wanna know everything, starting with where and when he took his first breath."

"Yes, Gibbs," Ziva said.

"And neither of you mentions Collins to the Director," Gibbs said. He didn't want Vance to know he suspect Collins' involvement right now. The man would be justifiably pissed when he found out his daughter's boyfriend might have been involved. He would go after the moron. Gibbs didn't want that just yet. He was hoping Collins would lead him to whoever else was involved.

"Got it, Boss," Tony said.

"Yes, Gibbs," Ziva said at the same time.

Gibbs soon got up and headed for the elevator. He needed more coffee.


	13. Chapter 13

Gibbs was coming back from the head towards the bullpen when he saw Vance by the elevator. "Wasn't expecting to see you here today, Leon."

"I wasn't either. I'd intended to stay at home for the next few days, but if he's here, so am I?" Vance said as he looked towards the area where Gibbs team was.

Gibb turned to see Tim there settling at his desk. "Tim!"

Tim turned towards his boss and father. "Hey, Boss."

"What are you doing here?" Gibbs asked as he and Vance moved closer.

"Um, I work here?" Tim said as a question.

"A, It's Saturday and you're not on duty."

"They're here," Tim said as he motioned to Tony and Ziva.

"And b, you can't work this case," Gibbs continued as if the younger agent never spoke.

"I know that, Boss, but I need to do something, even if it's paperwork or working cold cases. I can't just sit home and do nothing," Tim said as he sat down.

Gibbs turned to Vance. "You allowed this?"

"Allowed it? He's an adult. Besides, it's better than him sitting home and contemplating doing something stupid," Vance said. He knew his son well and he knew if he sat in the house thinking of McGee, he would eventually try to go out find the son of a bitch.

Gibbs sighed and looked at Tim. "Cold cases and you don't ask about the case."

"Got it, Boss," Tim said.

Vance was heading for the stairs when he got a look at the glares DiNozzo was sending his son's way when he thought no one was looking. "DiNozzo!"

Tony's eyes immediately met the director's. "Sir?"

"My office, now," Vance ordered.

Tony cringed, but stood up.

Tim opened his mouth to protest, but then he caught a look from his father. He knew that look well. It meant that he was not to get involved.

Vance led the way up the stairs. He opened the first door where his assistant sat and went straight into his office. He didn't even check to make sure DiNozzo was following him. "Close the door and sit down, he said before going over to his desk and sitting down.

Tony closed the door before going and sitting down in front of the director's desk.

"Alright, DiNozzo, time to lay the cards on the table. If you have an issue, speak!" Vance ordered.

"I don't know what you mean, sir," Tony said quietly.

"Do you take me for a fool, Agent DiNozzo? Do you think I didn't notice the looks you were giving Agent McGee?" Vance asked.

"You mean your son?" Tony asked quietly and bitterly.

"What was that?" Vance asked. He heard him of course, but he wanted to see if the younger man would have the balls to repeat it.

"Nothing, sir. Look, it's nothing. It won't happen again," Tony said. It was obviously the answer the director wanted to hear. He wanted to make sure his baby boy didn't get his feelings hurt again.

"I doubt that considering you lack even the least bit of professionalism. I've watched you for months now with your juvenile, class clown attitude and I'm tired of it! Do you realize that the only reason you haven't faced discipline action is because of the teammate you're so angry with right now?" Vance asked.

Tony looked up at Vance in surprise.

"That's right, DiNozzo. Tim went to bat for you every time you pulled something that should've earned you at least a suspension. Most notable is the Iraq debacle. I bet you didn't know I knew about that," Vance said.

Tony could honestly say that he didn't know. It was more a reason for him to be pissed at McGee. McGee had squealed to his father. That was probably the whole reason Vance had such a problem with him and even sent him on that ship.

"I know what you're thinking. He didn't tell me. He didn't have to. I overheard you give him the advice in the first place. By the way, he didn't actually take your advice. He came up here to volunteer. Only time I didn't remain impartial. My son was never going to Iraq," Vance said.

"But if he volunteered then why..?"

"Why did I berate him in front of everyone? It was for your benefit. I wanted to see how you'd react. I was hoping to see some trace of guilt on your face. Know what I saw instead? Glee. You were proud of yourself because you got one over on your 'probie'," Vance said in disgust.

Tony had the decency to look away in shame.

"What you did was childish and cruel. And I'm not saying it because he's my son. It would've been just as bad had it been anybody else. You walk around this place like it's a high school and it's not! This is a government agency! We don't have time for these types of games! And we don't have time for you to throw a tantrum because you weren't privy to information you had no right to in first place," Vance lectured.

"It's amazing. Tim is my son, but you're the one that runs around like he's entitled," Vance said.

"It's not like that, sir. It's just… We're friends. Friends aren't supposed to keep secrets like this from each other," Tony said.

"You say he's your friend? You have a very convoluted definition of the word friendship then. Maybe if you'd acted like a true friend, he would've told you. Maybe then he wouldn't have been afraid that you'd turn on him. Of course that's exactly what you did, so I guess he was right to worry," Vance said.

Tony felt about two inches tall. Gone was his righteous anger. The Director was right. He'd treated McGee like he was some spoiled brat who got into NCIS because of his powerful daddy. But Tony knew that wasn't true. McGee was a good agent and he became that on his own. Vance didn't get him to where he was. Tony had just been angry because McGee lied to him and because he seemed to have such a great life. It wasn't fair.

"Get out of my office," Vance said. He'd had enough of this overgrown toddler.

Wordlessly, Tony got up and left, feeling thoroughly put in his place.


	14. Chapter 14

Tim found himself walking off the elevator and towards Autopsy a few hours later. After hours of going through cold cases, he decided he needed a breather. He was going to go for a walk on the Navy Yard, but changed his mind. He realized that Ducky and Abby still didn't know what was going on and he wanted them to find out from him. He decided to start with Ducky because he wasn't all that worried about ME's reaction. If there was anyone he was certain wouldn't judge him, it was Ducky.

When Tim got into Autopsy, he saw Ducky there working on a body. "Hey, Ducky."

Ducky looked up from what he was doing. "Timothy. I'm surprised to see you. It's Saturday. Weren't you all on call last weekend?

"Well, you're here too," Tim pointed out.

Ducky chuckled slightly. "Yes. I am doing a favor for a fellow ME. He has asked me to look over his lad here and see if I can find anything he couldn't. I agreed after speaking with the director. Did you all switch weekends again?"

Tim shook his head. "No. There's a case, one that Vance wasn't willing to give anyone but Gibbs."

"Ah, it must be important then. Though I'm guessing since I haven't gotten a body or called to a scene, that it isn't a murder," Ducky said as he turned his attention back to the body.

"No. It almost was, but no," Tim said.

"And who was almost murdered?" Ducky asked.

Tim sighed. "Me."

Ducky's head shot up quickly and his eyes had a mixture of shock and worry in them. "What?"

"I got shot at last night while I was out with Sarah and her boyfriend. We'd just finished eating and were walking to our cars when a sniper started shooting," Tim said.

"You mean the shooting on the news? You were involved?" Ducky asked.

Tim nodded. "I was the target."

"How can you be sure of that?" Ducky asked. Being an NCIS agent would make Timothy a lot of enemies, but a lot of times, shooters like this just wanted to hurt people, anyone. A lot of times they didn't even have a specific target.

"Because the gun was aimed at me. Sarah's boyfriend saw a target mark on my head. This was about me," Tim said.

"My God. Do you have any idea who would do this to you? Do you think it's about a case?" Ducky asked.

"Well, right now, the prime suspect is the guy who provided his sperm to conceive me," Tim said. He would not call him his father. The SOB was not and would never be his father. Leon Vance was his father and he always would be. He was the only one who got that title.

Ducky looked at him in horror. "Your think your father did this. You never speak much about your father, except to say that he was Navy, but I always assumed you had a good relationship with him."

"I have a great relationship with my dad. John McGee is not my dad. I won't even call him my father. Saying he is would be an insult to my father," Tim said.

"You were adopted?"

"When I was ten. My godfather adopted me and Sarah. Then we he got married, his wife adopted us as well," Tim said. He cleared his throat and continued. "Um, you need to know who they are. The rest of the team knows now, aside from Abby and Palmer. I decided to tell you first because you're the least likely to judge me on it."

"Well, of course I would never judge you, Timothy. I don't see how learning the identity of your parents could cause me to judge you, but I wouldn't anyway," Ducky said.

"I believe you. I think you're probably the only one I didn't." think would judge me. I'm pretty sure Abby will though," Tim said. Abby was a lot like Tony in that aspect. She felt she deserved to know everything and if you kept something from her, it really pissed her off. She would at least judge him on that. He just hoped she wouldn't also accuse him of getting his position through his father.

"I'm sure that's not true. Why don't you just tell me what it is?" Ducky asked gently.

Tim nodded. "Right. My father is someone at NCIS. Actually, he runs NCIS. I am Director Vance's son."

Ducky wasn't able to hide his shock from what he'd just heard. He'd never seen any inclination that Timothy and Director Vance knew each other outside of NCIS. Vance always seemed to have a lot of respect for Timothy, but that didn't seem unusual, as the young man was a remarkable agent and person. No, he'd never shown anything but professionalism while at NCIS. "I must admit, Timothy, you have stunned me. I had no idea."

"That's how I wanted it. I'm sorry if it hurts you that I didn't say anything, but…"

"You were worried about being judged. I can see now why you would think you would be. Outside of the team, you likely will be. It is a very sad fact. I understand why you didn't say anything," Ducky said. He would not judge Timothy, not even for hiding it. The man had a good reason to hide it. As he said, there were those who would look at him differently. They would accuse the director of nepotism.

"It's not just outside the team. Tony thinks my father paved my way here and I'm sure Abby will be pissed too," Tim said.

"Anthony said this to you?" Ducky asked surprised.

"He insinuated it. He got really angry. He started talking about how my father could've made things happen for me," Tim said. He couldn't keep the hurt and bitterness out of his voice as he replayed Tony's reaction.

"I doubt he meant it, Timothy. Knowing Anthony, he was just lashing out," Ducky said. Oh, he wasn't defending Anthony's actions. The man had no right to insinuate that Timothy had been less than deserving of his position. However, he doubted that Anthony really believed the things he said.

"He meant it, Ducky. He said it," Tim said.

"And he shouldn't have. He had no business saying such a thing, but I think that maybe he did so because he felt a bit foolish and embarrassed at having learned that the teammate he'd been teasing and hazing all this time was his boss'. Of course, it shouldn't have mattered whose son you were. Some of the things he's done shouldn't be done to anyone. I am just telling you what I think he felt. He was likely embarrassed. That and possibly a bit jealous," Ducky explained.

"Jealous?" Tim asked as though it was ridiculous. It was ridiculous. Who the hell would be jealous of him? Yes, he had a great family now and he loved them very much, but he went through ten years of hell to get that. The first seven years of his life were spent fearing for his life and the three years after were spent not only dealing with all that had happened to him, but also watching his mother battle cancer and lose the battle. His life had pretty much blown before he was adopted. And wasn't as if life just became great then. Yes, he had terrific parents, but he still had to deal with the effects of his screwed up life. Hell, he was still dealing with it.

"Well, we've all heard Anthony speak about his father. It's clear that they weren't exactly close," Ducky said.

"So he's jealous of me because he thinks my life has been perfect. He's crazy if that's the case," Tim said.

"Yes, from what little you've told me, I think you're right," Ducky said. He hadn't said much but from what little Timothy had said about his biological father, they'd left on anything but good terms.

Just then, Tim's phone began to ring. He took it out and saw that it was the number for the landline at his parents' house. "Excuse me, Ducky. It's my mother."

"Of course, Lad. Feel free to come back if you'd like to talk some more," Ducky said.

Tim nodded and headed back out the door. He answered his phone just as he reached the elevator. "Hi, Mom, what's up?"

"Tim?"

Tim felt his heart drop at the obviously frightened voice. It wasn't his mother. It was his little brother. "Jared, what's wrong?"

"Someone's in the house, Tim. I tried to call Dad, but he's not answering," Jared said frantically.

Tim was definitely freaking out now. There was someone in his parents' house with his mother and siblings. He didn't understand how they got in though. There were agents outside the doors. "Okay, Jared, tell me exactly what happened."

"We were in the living room. We heard gunshots and Mom told us to run upstairs. We did what she said. Then we heard a noise and someone fall. Then Sarah ran back downstairs. Then I called Dad. He didn't answer, so I called you," Jared explained very quickly.

The more his brother spoke, the more worried Tim became. Both his mother and sister could be seriously hurt and there could still be someone in the house. "Okay, you two stay exactly where you are. I want you to call 911 as soon as I hang up, okay?"

"Okay," Jared said.

"Good. We'll be there soon," Tim said before hanging up. He got in the elevator and pressed the button for the bullpen. He had to get his father and Gibbs and hopefully get home before something terrible happened to his family.


	15. Chapter 15

Vance was doing about ninety as he drove him and his son towards his house. He had been in MTAC briefing SecNav on the situation with his family when Tim had burst in telling that someone was at the house and that their family was in danger.

As soon as Vance made the turn onto his street, he saw several cop cars, as well as an ambulance. Half the street was cut off.

"Dad, we should just get out here. They'll never let the car through," Tim said.

Vance immediately pulled the car to the side of the road. He saw through the rearview mirror that the car behind him, which had Gibbs and the rest of the team in it, did the same.

Vance didn't even stop the car. He simply got out and started running towards his house with his son right behind him. They made it just before the driveway when an officer stopped them.

"Sorry, Folks, you can't come through here," the officer said.

"The hell I can't! This is my house!" Vance yelled.

"And we're with NCIS," Tim added.

Vance didn't wait for the okay. He pushed by the officer and onto his property. The first thing he saw as he made his way closer to the front door was the dead body of one of the agents watching his family.

"Special Agent Barns," Tim whispered. He knew the man. They weren't friends or anything, but they exchanged pleasantries every day.

"Yeah. Come on," Vance said. He would deal with the fact that one his people were dead later. Right now, he wanted to get to his family. The fact that Barns was dead made him even more worried about his wife and other children.

Tim followed his father inside where they were met with more local LEOs. Then he saw a sight that scared the hell out of him. His mother was being wheeled from the kitchen on a stretcher. "Mom!"

"Jackie!" Vance yelled and ran to his wife.

"Leon? Tim?" Jackie asked kind of disoriented.

"I take it you're her husband?" one of the EMT's asked. "She seems to be okay. She took a blow to the back of the head, but she came to pretty quickly after we got here. We're taking her in just to be on the safe side.

"Thank God. Where are my kids?" Vance asked.

"They're fine, sir. We have an officer upstairs with them. We thought it would be best if they didn't see their mother hurt," one of the officers said.

Vance breathed a sigh of relief. His family was safe. The entire way over, he had been worried that he would lose them, but they were okay.

"Leon?" Jackie asked.

Vance grabbed ahold of his wife's hand. "Yeah, Baby. I'm here. I'm so glad you're okay."

"We were really worried, Mom," Tim said. He'd never been so afraid in his life, not even as a child when he was faced with John's abuse.

"I'm fine, honey. The most I've got is a headache. Do me a favor and go check on your brother and sisters? Sarah's probably raising hell up there. Let them know everything's okay, but don't let them come down. I don't want Jared and Kayla seeing me like this. They're too young to see their mother like this. They've already seen too much today," Jackie said.

"Okay," Tim said before kissing his mother on the cheek and taking off towards the stairs.

"Jackie, did you see who did this?" Vance asked.

"No. They got me from behind. It happened really fast, Leon. We were in the living room. Sarah was reading and the kids and I were watching a movie. Then we heard the shots. I sent the kids upstairs. Sarah didn't wanna go, but I made her. I went into the kitchen and grabbed a knife. I never even heard them come in. One minute I'm getting ready for an attack and the next I'm waking up here."

"Well, at least you all are okay," Vance said.

Just then, Gibbs walked through the door.

"I'll be right back, Baby," Vance said before going over to Gibbs.

"Body count's at three so far. The two agents guarding from the car are dead too. The fourth agent, Peters, is alive, but he was hit," Gibbs said."

"Son of a bitch!" Vance cursed angrily. The bastards had killed his people, hurt his wife, and frightened his children. They were going to pay for this. He was going to make McGee and everyone else involved, because he knew there were others, suffer for coming at him like this.

"Look, at least your family is okay," Gibbs said.

"He wasn't trying to hurt them. He was making a point, that he could get to them," Vance said.

"McGee can't be doing this alone, Leon. If it's him, he has help. No way did he take out four agents on his own," Gibbs said.

"I know. Look, I'm gonna get rid of Metro. We're taking the case and you're taking point. Find these guys Gibbs. I want this over," Vance said with authority.

Gibbs nodded. "What about your family. What do you wanna do now?"

Vance wasn't sure what to do. How was he going to protect his family now? They'd had four guards on them and they still ended up nearly getting hurt. Hell, Jackie had been hurt, even if it wasn't seriously. "I…I don't know yet. For now, I'm just gonna keep them close by. I'm going to go to the hospital with Jackie and have Tim follow with Sarah and the younger kids."

"Alright," Gibbs said.

"Dad."

Vance turned to see his son behind him with fear in his eyes. He was trying to hide it, probably so Jackie didn't see, but it was still clear as day. "What's wrong, son?"

"I…I forgot when the police said everyone was okay," Tim said frantically.

"What are you talking about?" Vance asked.

"W…when I was on the phone with Jared, he said that Sarah ran downstairs after hearing Mom get hit," Tim said.

Vance was overcome with a feeling of dread as he once again felt fear for a member of his family. "Sarah's not upstairs, is she?"

Tim shook his head. "The police said they never saw her. Dad, she's gone."


	16. Chapter 16

The next morning, Gibbs walked through the bullpen with a cup of coffee in his hand. He found both Tony and Ziva at their desks. "One of you tell me something."

Tony cringed. Neither of them knew anything and he knew his boss wasn't going to take that well. "Boss, there's really not much to go on. There was no evidence at the Vance home that would help us find Sarah. She left her phone behind, so we can't track her that way, and the only one alive who might be able to identify the car and license plate is still unconscious. We really can't know anything until Peters wakes up."

"Well, you need to find something! We've got three agents dead and a young girl missing! We need to find her now!" Gibbs said loudly.

"Damn right you do."

They all turned around to see Vance coming their way. He looked disheveled, worried and angry, not that any of them could blame him. His entire family had all been threatened in some way in the last two days and his daughter was missing.

"Hey. Everything good at the safe house?" Gibbs asked as he took a few steps towards his director.

"As much as it can be. The agents you put on them are alert and ready for an ambush, but they were last time too. A part of me didn't wanna leave, but my daughter's life is in danger. I have to be here to help. Jackie insisted too," Vance asked.

"How is she?" Gibbs asked.

"Terrified. She's scared to death for Sarah. She's barely holding on, and only because of Jared and Kayla. We don't want them knowing what's going on with Sarah. The break in and the move to the safe house has them shaken enough as it is," Vance said.

"How about physically?" Gibbs asked.

"She has a slight concussion, but she'll be okay. Tim's with her. I'm hoping he can get her to take it easy and maybe distract her from the fear, though I'm not sure that's even possible. What's going on with finding my daughter," Vance asked in full director slash protective father mode.

"We're doing everything we can, but there's nothing yet," Gibbs said.

"You check traffic cams?" Vance asked.

"We have, Director, but we do not have anything to go on as far as the car goes. We do not know what it looks like or what the license plate is," Ziva said.

"We did check several cams to see if we could pick Sarah out, but we were unsuccessful," Tony said sadly.

"What is Agent Peters' condition?" Vance asked. Peters was the only surviving agent from the ambush. He might have seen something that could help them find Sarah.

"He is out of surgery, but he is in critical condition. He has not regained consciousness yet," Ziva answered.

Vance nodded. "Gibbs, come with me."

Gibbs followed Vance up to his the stairs and to his office. He followed him inside and closed the door. "We're gonna find her, Leon. We're all doing everything we can."

Vance sighed and sat down behind his desk. "I should've been there. I should've stayed at home with my family. If a had…"

"Maybe you could've stopped it and maybe you couldn't have. There's no way of knowing what would've happened, Leon. You did what you could to protect your family. You went with Tim because he seemed to be the main target," Gibbs said.

"I'm not so sure it's McGee anymore. I've been thinking about it all night. John McGee was a miserable piece of slim, but he didn't have the connections to pull something like this off. He was a scumbag that got ousted from the Navy and beat up his wife and son. He couldn't have pulled something like this off," Vance said.

"Not unless he built connections. I agree with you. We gotta look at other angles," Gibbs said.

"I've got a lot of enemies. I'm the director of this agency. A lot of people would hate me," Vance said.

"We'll find out who's responsible, Leon. And we will find Sarah," Gibbs promised.

"We have to. I can't lose my daughter," Vance said in pained voice.

"You won't," he said.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim walked into his mother's bedroom at the safe house with a bottle of pain killers and a glass of water. "Here you go, Mom."

"Thanks, sweetie," Jackie said as she took the offered items from her son. She took two of the pills and chased them down with the water. "Where are your brother and sister?"

"Jared's playing a game on my computer and Kayla's watching TV," Tim told her.

"They still don't know, right?" Jackie asked. She didn't want her younger kids knowing what was going on. They didn't need to suffer the same fear that the rest of them were.

Tim shook his head. "They've asked where Sarah was a couple of times, but I've been basically deflecting them.

"Have you heard from your father yet?" Jackie asked. She'd asked that question already about five times since her husband left. She just really needed to hear that her daughter had been found and that she was okay.

"No," Tim said. He too was anxious to hear from his dad. He'd checked his phone dozens of times hoping that he'd just missed the call. He was scared for Sarah and sitting in a safe house and doing nothing wasn't helping any. He knew why he needed to stay. His father didn't feel comfortable leaving the rest of the family with just the agents and neither did he. What happened the day before was haunting both their minds. But that didn't mean he liked it. He wanted to be out there aiding in the search for his sister.

"I'm sure they'll find her soon," Jackie said, mostly for Tim's benefit. She could tell he was afraid, and no matter how old he was, he was her son and it was her job to reassure him.

"Yeah. I'm gonna go check on the others. Get some rest, Mom," he said before leaving the room.


	17. Chapter 17

Tony walked into the hospital room of Agent Peters. He'd gotten the call that the man was out of surgery and conscious, so he'd gone right over. He walked over to the bed. "Peters."

"DiNozzo. How's everyone else?," Peter asked in a groggy voice.

"If you mean the other agents, you were the only survivor," Tony said.

Peters closed his eyes sadly. "Why?"

Tony sighed. He'd asked himself that question before. When Kate died he asked it all the time. He and Gibbs had been standing right next to her when she was shot and killed. He'd asked himself why she had been the one to die. He knew why Ari had chosen to shoot her, but he still asked himself why his bullet didn't miss her and hit him or Gibbs instead. He knew McGee likely had similar thoughts, as he had been the first intended target. It was survivor's guilt at its finest. "I don't know, Peters. I don't know why you were the one to live, but you were and now I need your help. Sarah McGee is missing. You have to help us find her."

"Oh, God. I tried, Tony. I was going to go inside to protect the family, but I got hit before I had the chance. There must have been more than one of them," Peters said.

"Yeah, that's pretty obvious. One of them wouldn't have been able to take you all out. Did you see anything? Did you pass out right after you were shot or were you able to stay conscious for a while?" Tony asked.

"I think I was in and out. I kept hearing things, like screaming and I think I even heard someone get hit. I'm pretty sure that was all real," Peters said.

"Did you hear anything they said?" Tony asked.

"I think I heard Ms. McGee scream for her mother. Then her voice became kind of muffled," Peters said.

"LIke she'd been gagged?" Tony asked.

"Maybe. I don't really remember anything else after that. I think that was when I finally passed out," Peters said.

"And you didn't see any faces?" Tony asked.

"No. I'm sorry, Tony," he said.

"Well, we know Sarah was probably alive when she left that house. We just have to hope she stayed that way. Thanks, Peters," Tony said before walking away.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tony and Ziva were at their desks at NCIS. Tony was a little more than apprehensive. He was not looking forward to telling Gibbs and Vance that his conversation with Peters revealed pretty much nothing.

"Gibbs is not going to be happy," Ziva said.

"Neither is Vance. We know absolutely nothing, well, other than that it looks like Sarah was alive when she left the house. I'm at a loss for what we should do now. There is nothing for us to go on right now," Tony said more than a little frustrated.

"These men are pros. They clearly knew what they were doing," Ziva said.

Tony frowned slightly as something suddenly occurred to him. "Why'd they leave her alive?"

"What?" Ziva asked confused.

"Mrs. Vance. They left her alive. Why would they do that? You're right, these guys are pros. They had no problem killing federal agents. So why did they let Mrs. Vance live?" Tony asked.

"That is probably when Sarah came down. Perhaps she stopped them from killing her mother," Ziva said.

Tony shook his head. "No, they hit her in the head before Sarah got there. We know that from what Jared told McGee on the phone. Why didn't they just shoot her?"

Ziva thought for a moment. "They did not need to. Mrs. Vance was not a threat. She had no gun or much means of harming them, like the agents did. They only killed out of necessity."

"Exactly. Whatever their purpose was, it wasn't to kill. They killed to get in, but they never had any intention of hurting the family. They're not looking to murder, not right now anyway," Tony said.

"How do you explain, McGee? He was targeted. They tried to kill him," Ziva argued.

"Did they? You know, Gibbs wondered if Sarah's boyfriend was involved since he was the one to see the sniper in time to warn McGee. If he's right then they didn't wanna kill him. Hell, even if he's not right they might not have wanted to kill him. What are the odds that someone would notice mere seconds before the shooter took his shot?" Tony asked

"It is unlikely, but possible. They could have very well just gotten lucky," Ziva said.

Tony thought about it for a minute. "Okay, maybe you're right, but that doesn't explain what happened at the Vance house. They only shot the agents to go inside. They only hit Mrs. Vance in the head instead of killing her. They left Jared and Kayla alone completely. I think they were only there for Sarah. I don't think they cared about the others. I don't even think the director mattered. I think this whole thing is just about McGee and Sarah."

Ziva was about to say something when she noticed Abby come into view. "Abby, what are you doing up here?"

"Did you get the ballistics back?" Tony asked.

"No. Where's McGee?" Abby demanded to know.

"He's at the safe house with his family? Where else would he be?" Tony asked.

"Well, he better get back here because he has to answer for what he's done?" Abby said angrily. She'd overheard some agents talking about how McGee was Director Vance's son and she was pissed.

"What are you talking about?" Ziva asked.

"He lied to us. He's been here for years and he never told us who his father was," Abby said.

"It was none of our business," Ziva said.

"Of course it was our business. He pretended to be someone he wasn't! He was the boss' son! Since the moment he started, his father was really high up in the agency. It's clear how he got here," Abby said.

Tony looked at her and blinked a couple of times before speaking. "Thank you, Abby."

Ziva glared daggers at Tony. "Tony!"

Tony ignored her and spoke to Abby. "Apparently it takes hearing your own ridiculous words through someone else to realize how truly ridiculous they actually sound. What you just said is crap, Abby. You know damn well that McGee earned everything he's got. He's a good agent. How dare you or I try to diminish that by claiming nepotism? Not only that, but you wanna tear him apart while his sister is missing." He finally realized how stupid and immature he sounded. He realized it a little after talking with Vance, but after hearing Abby, it became abundantly clear. He was an ass for the way he acted.

"Tony, he lied to us," Abby said.

Tony stood up from his desk. "Yeah, and this is why. Excuse me, I have an apology to make that cannot wait any longer," he said before heading towards the elevator.


	18. Chapter 18

Tony approached the safehouse that his friend and his family were staying at. He immediately showed his badge to the guard at the door and knocked. The door was opened by a second guard who knew Tony and let him in.

Tony had just gotten inside when he was approached by Jackie Vance, the one person he was hoping not to see as he was kind of afraid of her. She'd nearly bitten his head off the last time he saw her, not that he blamed her. He had acted like an ass to her son. Of course she went after him. The point was that he did not want to piss her off again.

"Agent DiNozzo, is there any news yet on my daughter?" Jackie asked.

"Not yet, Mrs. Vance. We're still looking for her. I'm here because I wanna talk to Tim," Tony said.

Jackie narrowed her eyes at the young man in front of her. "My son is beside himself right now. He is scared to death for Sarah and he's trying to keep the rest of us afloat, as if that's his job. He doesn't need you coming after him again!"

Tony had a sudden urge to flee in the opposite direction of this very protective mother, but he resisted it "I understand that, Ma'am. That's not why I'm here. I"m here to apologize. I said things to him that I knew weren't true. I know your husband didn't maneuver Tim's way into NCIS. Even when I said it I knew it was crap. I said that because I felt like an idiot and I felt like he'd set me up to look that way. The truth is though that I did that on my own. I just want to apologize." He decided to leave out the fact that he was also jealous of Tim. That was a little more than he wanted to lay out for a virtual stranger.

Jackie looked at him for a minute before turning back towards the rest of the house. "Tim!"

Tim walked in through the hallway towards the bedrooms a second later. "Mom, what are you doing up? You should be resting.

Jackie gave him a look. "Tim, try to remember that I'm the parent here, not the other way around. I'm fine. Agent DiNozzo wants to talk to you for a minute," she said before heading the way that Tim had come.

Tim looked at Tony. "Since I just spoke to my father less than ten minutes ago, I'm going to assume you're not here because you have a lead."

"No. I just think we should talk," Tony said.

"And you think now's the best time for that?" Tim asked.

"No, probably not, but I also don't think it should wait any longer," Tony said.

"Fine," Tim said before leading the way into the living room.

Tony followed him and they sat down. He sat down in chair while Tim sat on the coach.

"Go ahead," Tim said.

Tony cringed. Tim was not going to make this easy for him. Then again, why should he. The last few days hadn't been easy on him and Tony had not made it any easier. "I wanted to apologize for the things I said to you when I found out about you and Vance."

"You mean my father and Gibbs wanted you to apologize," Tim corrected.

Tony was afraid that would be the reaction he'd get. After all, Tim had had a front row seat to him being pulled into Vance's office right before all hell broke loose. That was part of the reason he didn't apologize right after, because he was afraid he wouldn't be believed. The other reason was because of pride. "No. They didn't ask me to do this."

"Maybe not today, but do you really expect me to believe that this was all your idea after my father dragged you into his office?" Tim asked.

"He didn't tell me to apologize. Don't get me wrong, he certainly tore into me and made me feel like a total ass, but he's not the reason I'm here. All he did was make me see how ridiculous I was being. The reason I was so angry is because I felt like a fool for every stunt I pulled on you without knowing how much you could've destroyed me and because I was jealous," Tony said. The last part was the hardest to admit. It was a very petty reason and hated admitting that he'd acted so badly because of it.

"Jealous of what?" Tim asked. Ducky had mentioned that Tony might be jealous too, but he still could not understand it. The life he'd led was not something to be jealous of. Oh, he loved his family to death and he considered himself lucky to have them, but the years prior to being adopted were complete hell.

"It was clear that night how much your parents loved you. Then when I was at your place with Ziva, I found this picture of you and Vance. You and your dad were close. I guess I was jealous of that," Tony said.

Tim laughed. "You're out of your mind. That happiness you saw took me years to get. I spent the better part of the first ten years of my life in misery. I didn't get adopted until my mother died of cancer, and her death was probably the most tame thing to ever happen to me at that point. That should tell you how screwed up my life was."

"Oh God. I'm sorry, I didn't know," Tony said in shock. He'd just assumed that his friend had been adopted at birth, though he wasn't sure why he thought that, especially since he and Sarah both used a different surname than their parents, probably their biological parents'.

"No, you just assumed. Maybe you should pay more attention to Gibbs' rules," Tim said.

"I'm sorry. I was a jerk. I knew what I said to you was crap the minute I said, and if I hadn't known it then, I would've when I spoke with Vance. He told me that he'd been wanting to bring disciplinary action against me, but that you wouldn't let him," Tony said.

Tim snorted. "I wouldn't go that far. I don't 'let' my father do anything. I did ask him not to take action against you regarding me though. I'm used to how you are by now."

"He said he wanted to do something after the Iraq thing," Tony said.

"Yeah, he did. He felt you should at least have a reprimand in your file. I asked him not to do it. For one, it didn't matter. I didn't follow your 'advice', even though I told Abby I did. But even if I had, it wouldn't have mattered. I was not going to be allowed to go to Iraq. So I didn't see any reason for you to be punished for it. The other reasons I had were selfish. An investigation into your conduct would've ultimately revealed my identity to all of NCIS. It would've been impossible to keep it out," Tim explained.

Tony nodded. "I guess I should be grateful."

"I wouldn't have done it anyway. Like I said, it didn't work. It had no bearing on me or my career at all. You've done worse to me," Tim said.

"Like what?" Tony ased. He didn't remember anything worse than that.

"LIke putting a CD of dogs barking in my computer right after I got attacked by one," Tim said.

Tony looked down at his shoes.

"If there was ever a time you deserved a conduct review, it was then. Abby too. Actually, between the two of you, she's the one I would've reported first. Abby's treatment of him was far worse than Tony's could ever be. Tony he usually thought was a pretty good guy. Yes, he made jokes and pulled pranks, but most of the time they were harmless. He just went too far sometimes. Abby, however, acted as she saw fit and didn't care about anyone else.

"I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the times I screwed you over and I'm sorry for everything I said the other day. Can you forgive me?" Tony asked.

Tim looked at him for a minute. After listening to all the man had said, he did believe he was really sorry. "Yeah. I forgive you. Just don't ever question my place here again. I may have been privileged for a lot of years, but never once did I consider myself entitled, nor was I raised to believe I was."

Tony nodded.

Just then, Tim's cell phone rang. He immediately picked it up. "McGee."

"Tim," a shaky voice called out.

Tim felt his heart drop when he heard her voice. "Sarah?"


	19. Chapter 19

Tim felt both relief and fear from hearing his sister's voice. He was obviously relieved that she was alive and at least well enough to make the phone call, but he was worried about her and what whoever she was with was doing to her. "Sarah, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Is Mom okay? She got hit," Sarah said.

"She's fine. Everyone's okay," Tim said. Well, alright, not everyone was okay, but Sarah didn't need to know about the agents right now. "Can you talk right now? Can you tell me where you are so I can come get you?"

"I'm gonna call and try to have the call traced," Tony whispered before taking out his phone.

Tim barely heard him. He was too focused on Sarah and the voice he was now hearing in the background. "Sarah?"

There was a shuffle with the phone before a male voice was heard on the other end. "Hi, Tim."

Tim knew the voice right away. He hadn't heard it in over twenty years, but he still knew it well. It was hard to forget the voice of a man who made the first seven years of your life hell. Tim knew he shouldn't be surprised, and he wasn't. He always thought John McGee was somehow involved, since his father and Gibbs told him that the man was released from prison. There was no way that was a coincidence.

"You there, son?" John asked.

Tim felt hate and rage fill through him as he heard this man's voice and thought about everything this man had done to him and his family, both when he was a boy and within the last few days. But he tried to push it down for now. Sarah needed him now. "Yeah, i'm here. What do you want?"

"I want to meet," John said.

"What's going on?" Tony asked. He'd noticed the different tone in his friend's voice. It was very clear that he was no longer talking to Sarah.

Tim ignored the question and focused on his sperm donor. "Fine, tell me where you are?"

John laughed. "I don't think so. We'll meet somewhere neutral. I'll give you an address and you'll meet me. You will come alone. If I see Vance or anyone else, you won't see me. Understood.

"Yeah," Tim said through gritted teeth. He then grabbed a pad and pen. He jotted down the address as it was given to him and then tore the paper off and put it in his pocket. "I'll be there in an hour," he said before hanging up.

Tony hung up his call as well. "Okay, we've got a general area. They're about twenty minutes from here."

"Not for long. He won't stay wherever he is. He knows the call was traced. Tracking the phone now is out too. He would've used a burn phone,' Tim said. John was a bastard, but he wasn't stupid. He knew how to avoid being caught if he had to.

"Who's he? Do you know who has Sarah?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, I know who he is," Tim said before standing up and quickly slipping on his shoes. He grabbed his jacket, which was draped over the side of a chair, and put it on. His gun and knife were already on him, so that was was one thing he didn't have to do.

"Whoa, what are you doing? We call for backup before heading to wherever you agreed to meet this guy," Tony said

"No. He told me if he sees anyone else, he'll disappear. We may never see Sarah again if that happens," Tim said.

"And if you go alone, we might never see you again. Alright, fine, if you won't wait for Gibbs and Vance, I'll come with you. I'll stay out of sight," Tony promised.

"One, I can't take that risk, and two, I need you to stay here with my mom and my brother and sister in case this is a trap," Tim said. He didn't think it was, but after what had just happened, he wasn't taking chances.

"They have guards," Tony pointed out.

"Yeah, and they had them last time too. Tony, please, just stay here. I have to go," Tim said as he started to walk out of the room.

Tony grabbed his arm to stop him. "No. Come on, this is not smart. You'll gonna get yourself killed. Whoever this is, he's already taken a shot at you. Now I'm not positive he meant to kill you anymore, but he's obviously dangerous.

"Trust me, I know that. Taking a shot at me is the least he's ever done to me," Tim said.

"Yes, that assures me that going after this guy alone is a good idea," Tony said sarcastically.

"I don't have a choice. He has my sister," Tim said.

"I get that, but there's a better way than just offering yourself up to him. Look, let's just call Gibbs and Vance and figure it out with them," Tony said.

"No. My father would never let me do what has to be done and neither would Gibbs. Feel free to call after I leave, but I'm going. Actually, give me about an hour head start if you can," Tim said.

Tony opened his mouth to argue, but he was cut off.

"Tony, short of knocking me out, you will not stop me. You have no idea what this guy could do to Sarah or what he might have already done. I'm her brother. I have to protect her from him," Tim said. He swore a long time ago that Sarah would never suffer what he and their mother had from John. She never knew what it was like to be smacked around and he swore she never would. That was unfortunately a promise that might have been broken, but if it was, Tim would make sure it didn't happen again.

Tony seriously considered knocking his friend out to stop him, but he thought about what he would do if he was in McGee's position. He would do it. He would take on anyone who hurt someone he cared about. "Who is he? I have to tell Vance and Gibbs who's responsible."

Tim made his way out of the room and towards the door, knowing Tony was following him. "His name is John McGee. There was a time when I was forced to call him my father," he said before walking out the door without giving Tony a chance to respond.

"What's going on? Should we be following him?" one of the agents guarding the door asked.

Tony wanted to say yes, but he didn't wanna put Sarah or Tim in danger. He was just gonna have to trust his friend right now.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim made it to the address John had given him about forty minutes later. The venue was deserted, and creepy, given the circumstances. It looked like a condemned building. There was dubris all over the place. Tim was sure John was lurking somewhere waiting. "Where are you, you son of a bitch?"

Tim suddenly heard a voice behind him. "You made it in under an hour. That's surprising. It's an hour and ten minute drive from Vance's place."

"You drove us from our home. Where's Sarah?" Tim demanded to know.

"She's fine. You'll see her soon. Walk to that wall straight ahead spread out," John instructed.

Tim made no move to do as he said.

"Do it if you wanna see your sister," John ordered.

Tim took a minute, but eventually climbed over the trash and fallen building parts to make it over to the wall. He pressed his palms against it and spread out like he'd force a suspect. He soon felt a pair of hands on him and forced himself not to flinch at having the man that tormented him for seven years touch him.

It wasn't long before Tim felt his gun and knife both removed from his person.

"A knife too. I bit paranoid, huh?" John asked before continuing his search and pulling the phone out of Tim's pocket as well.

"Never go anywhere without a knife," Tim recited quietly and automatically.

"Good advice. Vance teach you that?" John asked before hooking a pair of handcuffs to one of his son's wrists and bringing it behind his back.

"Where'd you get those. You take them off one of the agents you murdered?" Tim asked.

"I did what I had to," John said before grabbing the other wrist and cuffing that too. he then grabbed Tim's arm. "Let's go."

Having no other choice, Tim let the man lead him out of the building.


	20. Chapter 20

Tony didn't wait the hour Tim had asked for. He waited about ten minutes. Ten minutes to panic and think of everything that could go wrong and what this guy could do to his friend was all it took to get him to make that call fifty minutes sooner. Unfortunately, the safe house was about thirty to forty minutes away from NCIS, so McGee still kind of got his hour.

Now, Tony was in front of Gibbs, Vance, and Mrs. Vance, all of whom were as livid as it got. Tony actually wasn't sure who was afraid of more right now. Vance or Gibbs. Actually, no, that wasn't true. He knew who he was more afraid and it wasn't either man. He was more afraid of the overprotective mother who looked ready to skin him alive.

"You let my son go after a maniac who has already kidnapped my daughter!" Jackie asked angrily.

Tony instinctively took a step back. This woman frightened him, possibly more than anyone ever had before. He wondered for a brief moment how his friend had survived any time he might have gotten into trouble growing up. "I...I tried to stop him, Mrs. Vance, but he wouldn't listen to me."

"Why not yell for me? I would've stopped him," Jackie said. Her son might be tough federal agent, but she knew very well that she could still put the fear of God into him. She could've stopped him.

"Th...that didn't really occur to me, Ma'am," Tony admitted. Not once did he think that yelling for the matriarch of the Vance family might be able to stop her son from doing something stupid.

"Did common sense occur to you, DiNozzo? You know these people are after him. They took a shot at him. You should've handcuffed him if that's what it took," Gibbs lectured.

"I know, Boss. I even thought about knocking him out to stop him, but I understood why he did it," Tony said.

"So do I, DiNozzo, but it was stupid!" Vance growled. He didn't know what the hell his son was thinking. Well, okay, yes, he did. He was thinking about saving Sarah, but going after people who took a shot at him and invaded their home, killing three agents, by himself was not the way to handle it.

"I offered to go with him, but he wanted me to stay here in case it was a trap," Tony said.

"Tell me what happened," Vance ordered.

"Well, when he first answered the phone, it was Sarah. He didn't have her on the phone for long though. His whole demeanor changed within seconds. I've never heard his voice so cold," Tony said. McGee was kind and compassionate by nature, but when he was on the phone with his father, there was nothing but coldness and hatred in his voice.

Vance cringed. That was really all he needed to hear to know who his son was talking too. But he would ask the question anyway. "Who was it? Did he say?"

Tony nodded. "Yes sir. He said it was John McGee, his father." That had thrown him. He knew McGee was adopted of course and he'd learned not long before that he didn't have the best life before the Vance's adopted him, but he didn't think it would be to the point where he hated his biological father so much.

"Damn it," Vance said.

"Oh my God. I knew he was a suspect and probably guilty, but now he definitely had our kids, Leon. Who knows what he could do to them? We have to find them," Jackie said with fear and worry in her voice.

Leon put his arm around her. "We will, Baby."

"Mom, Dad."

Vance and Jackie both turned to see their younger children standing a few feet away. "You two go back into the other room. I'll be in in a minute," Jackie promised in as normal a tone as she could.

"Where's Tim? He promised to play a game with us," Jared said.

Jackie was silent. She had no idea what to say to her kids right now. She wasn't going to be able to hide the truth from them for much longer, not with both Tim and Sarah gone now. Not to mention that she was on the verge of breaking down herself.

Tony decided to step in and help. This seemed to be at least something he could do. "A game, huh? I love games. I know I'm not your brother, but would you mind if I played with you?"

"Okay. You're Tony, right? Tim talks about you sometimes," Jared said.

"Yeah, that's right. How about we play this game and I can tell you some stories about your big brother?" Tony asked.

"Cool!" Jared said before leading the way into the other room. Kayla followed him.

"Thanks, DiNozzo," Vance said. He wasn't the biggest fan of the man, but he appreciated him helping with his kids when he and his wife were too worried to figure out what to say.

Tony nodded and followed the kids.

"What do we do now?" Jackie asked.

"I'm calling him. Maybe I can get to him before he's able to hand himself over," Vance said as he took out his phone and dialed his son's number.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim was sitting in the passenger seat of John McGee's car as the other man drove. He struggled trying to get loose from the handcuffs with no luck.

"Give it up, son. You're not going anywhere," John told him.

Tim didn't respond. He only kept trying to get free. In fact, the son of a bitch's words just made him want to try harder to get free just to spite him.

John laughed. "How many people have you slapped cuffs on. Any of them get loose?"

Again, Tim ignored him.

"Fine, go for it, but you'll only end up hurting yourself," John warned.

"Yeah, and why would you want me to do that when you can do it?" Tim asked quietly and bitterly.

If John heard him, he didn't acknowledge it.

Soon, the sound of a ringing cellphone was heard. Tim immediately recognized the ringtone as his own. It was his phone.

John took the phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen. "'Dad'. I wasn't aware I was calling you."

Tim sent him a glare but said nothing. He wasn't going to take John's bait.

"I'm guessing Leon knows by now that you're with me. He's probably pretty upset by that," John said.

Tim cringed knowing that his father was likely very upset, both for him and with him. His mother was likely just as upset. He had no doubt that when this was over, his parents and Gibbs would all be in line to kick his ass.

"You got a chip in this thing?" John asked once the phone stopped ringing.

"I'm guessing you wouldn't believe me if I said no," Tim answered.

"Nope," John said before shutting the phone off and tossing it aside.

"What do you want from me, John? Why are you doing this?" Tim asked.

"So you've decided you can call me 'John' now, have you?" John asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It was either that or Jackass, what do you prefer?" Tim asked snidely. "I will never be your son."

"You carry my name, don't you?" John asked.

"That's for my grandfather, not you," Tim told him.

"I heard my father died several years ago. Penny's apparently still alive and kicking though. Somehow that doesn't surprise me," John said.

"Yeah, she's still alive. She doesn't claim you any longer either. You haven't answered my question. What do you want? Revenge? You could've taken that back at that abandoned building. You could've easily killed me and got away," Tim said.

"What makes you think I want you dead?" John asked.

"I'm thinking it has something to do with you taking a shot at me," Tim said.

"Didn't hit you though, did it? In fact, you say the gun before any shot was fired. Do you really think you're that lucky?" John asked.

Tim was surprised by John's revelation, but after a minute, he realized it made sense. He would've had to be damned lucky to have seen that gun before it was fired without it being planned that way. John wasn't trying to kill him that night. He was trying to scare him. "You son of a bitch! You put all of those people in danger just to scare me."

"No one got hurt. And I wasn't trying to scare you," John said pointedly.

"You were trying to scare my father," Tim realized.

"Now why would I need to scare myself. Call Vance whatever you want, but I am your father," John said.

"The fact that I have your blood in me doesn't make you my father. You were never a father to me! I hate you!" Tim said with as much coldness as he could display.

"Yeah, well, most people do hate their parents at some point," John said.

"Why did you shoot at me? It was to scare my father, but why? And why did you arrange an attack of my family's home. Three people are dead and one injured. My brother and sister were terrified and my mother was hurt! That's not even mentioning you kidnapping Sarah. Speaking of, you better not have laid a hand on her," Tim warned angrily.

"Sarah's mine, as are you. You can't kidnap what's yours. As for why, I'll explain later. In the meantime, relax. We've still got a long drive ahead of us," John said.

Tim glared, but said nothing else.


	21. Chapter 21

Tim must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew, he was being shaking and heard John's voice seconds later.

"Time to get up, son. We're here," John said.

Tim opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a garage and John was standing over him outside the car. "Where are we?"

"Need to know. Come on, let's go inside," John said before taking him by the arm and helping out of the car.

Tim didn't fight as he was led out of the garage and into the house. He looked around and found himself in a large kitchen nicely furnished. There was a guard right by the door clearly there to make sure he and Sarah didn't get out. "Where's my sister?"

"Probably asleep. It's after midnight," John said.

"I don't know about that. Being kidnapped by a lunatic doesn't exactly make sleep easy," Tim said.

"Well, you had no problem with it," John pointed out.

"I haven't gotten a lot of sleep in the last few days, thanks to you. Will you take these damn things off now?" Tim asked referring to the handcuffs that still confined his hands behind his back. I'm sure if I tried to leave, your buddy over there would stop me."

"Oh, yes, thank you for reminding me. That's Mark. He'll be around, as well another friend of mine. His name's Ryan. You'll get acquainted with them, I'm sure. Actually, it's probably better if you don't. They're both instructed to use any means they deem necessary to keep you here, short of killing you or causing permanent damage," John said before taking a step towards his son and speaking once more in a low voice. "And should they have to stop you, what you get from me will make anything I may have done in the past seem like a little tumble off the jungle jim."

"What do you want from me? Just tell me so we can get the hell out of here!" Tim yelled.

"You're going nowhere, son. Get used to it," John said.

"I am not your son! Stop calling me that!" he exclaimed. He hated it when John called him son, even when he did it years ago. His dad called him that sometimes too, but it was different in the way John did it. With his dad, it was a term of endearment. John did it as a declaration of ownership. He did it because he wanted Tim to remember that he was his and always would be. He wanted him to know he belonged to him.

John walked behind Tim and grabbed one of his wrists twisting it hard.

Tim gasped in pain, but refused to yell out.

"You're mine. You pretend Leon's your father, but it's nothing more than a little boy's fantasy. You are mine, boy, and you always will be," John whispered into Tim's ear before letting go of his wrist. He then took a key out of his pocket and undid Tim's handcuffs.

Tim immediately grabbed the wrist that John twisted. "You're a twisted bastard."

"Watch yourself, son. You and I both know I can do worse. Come with me," John said before leaving the room without making sure Tim was following.

Tim followed. He was not willing to test John anymore at this moment. Like John said, he did know how much worse it could get. True, he could fight back now, but he wouldn't get far. John was a lot more bulky and probably a better fighter. He'd had years of experience in the Navy and probably in prison too.

Tim followed him through the living room and up the stairs. They went down to the end of the hall and into the last room on the left. Tim looked around and saw that it was a typical office. It had a desk and chairs, as well as a couch on the opposite side of the room.

"Sit," John ordered before sitting himself and opening a drawer.

Tim begrudgingly did as he was told and sat down in front of the desk. Just as he did, a handful of photos were placed in front of him. He immediately picked them up and looked at them. They were all of him and Sarah. They were clearly surveillance photos, as they all looked like they were taken without anyone's knowledge. "You've been stalking us."

John laughed. "Why am I not surprised you'd come to that conclusion? No. Those photos were sent to me."

"You're lying," Tim said with a glare.

"Afraid not, son. Someone's after me and is using you and Sarah to get to me. That's why I shot at you. I wanted Vance to do something to protect you until I could arrange this. Obviously it didn't take long. I managed to get things together quickly, but I didn't wanna chance it, as I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull it off in time. Plus, it would make it easier to get you both if you were together. I figured Vance would make sure you were together. I didn't plan on you going to work that day. That made things difficult, but I wasn't going to get a better chance at Sarah then with Vance out of the house. I also thought it might throw off whoever's doing this," John explained.

"You expect me to believe you did all of this to protect us?" Tim asked skeptically. John didn't give a damn about him. He proved that every time he beat him as a child.

"I'll say it again, you're mine. No one will touch you," John said.

"No one but you, right?" Tim asked snidely.

John smiled in response. "That's right, son. You belong to me. I'll handle you anyway I want, but no one else will touch you unless I say. So, yes, I will protect you whether you want that protection or not."

"And then what?" Tim asked. He had a hard time believing that John was just going to let him and Sarah leave when this was over. He'd always been very possessive and that had clearly not changed. He believed they belonged to them. He wouldn't let them go.

John smiled. "Go two doors down. That's your room. Get some sleep."

Tim glared at John, but the man completely ignored him and turned his attention to something on his desk. Tim got up after a minute and left the room.


	22. Chapter 22

The next day, Vance was sitting in the driver's side of her son's next his son's car looking for any sign of him or where he might be. They'd put a BOLO on it right away and thankfully found it quickly. Vance didn't expect to find much in the car and he wasn't disappointed there. There was absolutely nothing there.

Gibbs stood next to Vance by the car. "Anything?"

"No," Vance said.

"We'll get it back to Abby. She'll be able to find out if there's anything to find," Gibbs said.

Vance got out of the car just as Tony and Ziva came out of the building they were parked in front of.

"There was no sign of a struggle, sir, but the building's condemned and pretty trashed," Tony said.

"There was no struggle. Tim never had any intention of fighting John McGee. He knew how this would end before stepped one foot outside the safe house. He knew he would just be another hostage. He accepted that fate," Vance said. He knew his son well. Tim was smart. He knew how McGee was. He knew the bastard didn't just wanna have a little chat and then he would let him and Sarah go. McGee wanted Tim as well and he'd used Sarah to get him to comply.

"He should not have done this," Ziva said. This was not the right thing to do. She understood why her friend did it of course. Sarah was his sister. Should Ziva have had the chance to save her sister's life, she would've taken it, even if it cost her own life. But there was a better way than this. They could have all helped to get Sarah back.

"No, he definitely shouldn't have, but all he could think about was protecting Sarah. He knows more than anyone in the world what McGee's capable of and he would never allow Sarah to be alone with him if he could be with her," Vance explained.

"He sacrificed himself," Gibbs said.

"Yeah, and now they're both at risk," Vance said worriedly.

"What exactly has this guy done. I'm not trying to pry, sir, but shouldn't we know what he's capable of?" Tony asked.

Vance looked between both agents with a stern look on his face. "You repeat this conversation to no one. If I find out anyone else has been privy to what I'm about to say and I will make your lives hell."

"Understood, sir," Tony said immediately.

"We will not breathe a word," Ziva promised.

"John McGee was sent to prison when Tim was a boy for domestic abuse and attempted murder," Vance said.

Tony cringed. He had begun thinking it was something like that. With what little Tim told him about his childhood and then with the way he spoke over him later, it was hard for Tony not to come to that conclusion. He'd tried to tell himself that there was another explanation though. He didn't wanna believe that something so damaging could happen to his friend.

"He abused him," Ziva said with horror laced in her voice.

Vance nodded. "It didn't come to an end until McGee beat Tim and Sarah's biological mother so badly that she nearly miscarried Sarah."

"Oh my God. They are in trouble," Ziva said alarmed.

"More than you can imagine. If they're not found soon, they will be hurt."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim was up early. Actually, he didn't sleep much at all. He spent a good portion of the night trying to come up with a way to get him and Sarah, or at least Sarah, out of there. He couldn't come up with anything though, at least nothing fool proof or even just promising. Anything he could think of was unlikely to work. All it would accomplish is him getting beaten to a pulp.

Tim was pulled from his thoughts when he heard movement in the hallway. He immediately got up and walked out the door. He found Sarah about to descend on the stairs. "Sarah."

Sarah saw her brother and immediately ran into his arms. "Tim! I'm glad you're here. We'll sort of. I'm glad to see you, but I'm not sure it's great that you're here. Given that you just came out of a bedroom, I don't think this is a rescue."

Tim held her for a minute, glad to have his sister safe in his arms, then he pulled away and pulled her into his room. He immediately closed the door. "Sarah, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It hasn't been the best couple of days, but I'm alright. Is Mom okay? I know you said she was, but they knocked her out. I was really scared for her," Sarah said before going over to the bed and sitting on the edge

"Mom's fine. She had a concussion, but she's gonna be alright. She's worried about you and now me though," Tim said. He hated that he'd added to his parents' worry. They had been going through more than enough with Sarah missing. But he could not leave her alone with John.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone downstairs. I should've waited with Jared and Kayla like Mom wanted. I was just so scared for her," Sarah said.

Tim walked over and sat down next to his sister. "It wouldn't have matter. He was there for us, not Mom or the younger kids. He wasn't going to leave without you. If anything you saved Jared and Kayla from further trauma."

"God, Tim this guy is crazy. He tried to tell me that he's our father. It's insane or lies," Sarah said.

"Sarah, Mom, Dad, and I were going to talk to you about this, but obviously things went wrong. The man who has us right now, his name's John McGee. Biologically speaking only, he is our father," Tim said. He hated saying it even that way. He hated using the word 'father' in any way in relation to John McGee.

"What?" Sarah asked in shock.

"Yeah, he told you the truth. The son of a bitch is blood," Tim said.

"I thought our father was dead," Sarah said still in shock.

"I know. Mom and Dad thought it was best that you continue to think that. You never asked questions about him. You didn't seem to care at all, so they thought it was best to just leave well enough alone," Tim told her.

"Why? I deserved to know the truth, Tim. What is the truth anyway? If this guy is our father, where has he been and why has he brought us here now?" Sarah questioned.

"He's been in prison. He's a cruel, twisted son of a bitch. Be grateful he was never in your life. I wish I could say the same about mine. He's in your life now though which means you have to be careful. Don't provoke him, Sarah," Tim warned. His sister had a mouth on her. She lashed out when she was pissed. If she did that with John, it would cost her. Actually, no, it would cost him, as in Tim, because he would do whatever it took to make sure John didn't touch her. That would mean taking all John's anger on himself.

"Why? What would he do?" Sarah asked kind of afraid of the answer.

Tim was about to answer when he noticed John in the doorway.

"Good morning," John said.

"Not seeing anything good about it with you around," Tim mumbled to himself. It occurred to him that perhaps he should take his own advice and not antagonize the man.

John chuckled. "Keep going, son. See where it gets you."

"What do you want from us? Why have you kidnapped us?" Sarah asked.

"I'm your father, Sarah. I did not kidnap you. I took back what's mine," John said.

"You do not own us?" Sarah said with a glare.

"Sarah, stop," Tim said. She was already rocking the boat and it wouldn't be pretty if it toppled over.

"Oh, that's where you're wrong. You belong to me and always will. As long as I live, you will do as I say," John said.

"Our father will come for us," Sarah said.

"That's the last time I will tolerate either of you referring to Leon Vance as your father. The next time one of you says, there will be consequences. I am your father and you will accept that. Tim, I suggest you tell your sister what happens when my family defies me," John said before walking back out of the room.

"If he thinks I'll succumb to his every demand, he's crazy," Sarah said. She'd gone from being afraid of the guy to pissed at him, especially after he demanded she forget what her dad was to her.

"Just do what he says for now, Sarah. He's not bluffing. You don't wanna know what will happen if you go against him,"Tim said seriously.

Sarah could tell that her brother was deadly serious. This was going to get very ugly as time passed. "Things are about to get bad, aren't they?"

"Yeah, really bad."


	23. Chapter 23

Sarah spent a few minutes contemplating everything she'd learned about the man who brought her into the world, which wasn't much, but enough to hate him and to be worried. Then she stood up from the bed. "Okay, this isn't that bad. We just have to come up with a plan. We have to figure out how to get out of here

"I've been trying to think of a plan pretty much since the moment I got in his car. I can't think of anything. He has my knife and gun, and he shut off my phone, so tracking us through that is out," Tim said.

"Why did you get in the car with him? Why didn't you fight him, arrest him?" Sarah asked.

"Because you were still out there and he wouldn't have told us where. Look, I knew what he wanted the moment he demanded we meet and I was willing to do it. I knew this was how things would turn out," Tim said. He'd accepted his fate before he even left the safe house. Yes, he took his weapons in hopes that somehow he could get to Sarah without being disarmed and get them out, but he knew deep down that the chances of that were ridiculously low.

"Why would you do it then?" Sarah asked. She was certainly glad to have her brother with her, but she just didn't see what he was trying to accomplish by willingly getting himself kidnapped.

"To be here with you. I could not leave you alone with him. You don't wanna know what he could do to you. If I had any ability to protect you, I was going to use it, even at my own expense," Tim said.

Sarah sat back down next to her brother. "You didn't answer my question earlier. What happened years ago. What did he do?"

"Do you really need me to tell you at this point? You saw him. Are you telling me you couldn't figure it out?" Tim asked.

Sarah sighed. She had pretty much figured it out, but she wanted to be wrong. "He hit you."

Tim laughed humorlessly. "Well, that seems like a tame word for it, but yeah. I never knew anything from him put cruelty. He beat me and our mother anytime we pissed him off. He saw us as his property, as such we were to stay in line or suffer painful consequences, and we did. When I was five, he cracked my skull."

"Oh my God!" Sarah said in horror. She imagined her big brother being beaten by the man who'd just threatened the both of them. How could he do that to his own son? He was just a little boy.

"That was the most memorable beating for me, but there were others. Remarkably, I remember quite a bit as a kid, probably because it was so awful. It's funny how the bad memories are the ones that always stay with you," Tim said.

"How was he finally stopped?" Sarah said.

"Another memorable incident. I was even. I woke up in the middle of the night to hear him beating our mother. I listened at my door as it went on for what seemed to be forever. He didn't usually keep it up that long, so I started to get scared. I was afraid he was gonna kill her. So I got up every bit of courage I had and snuck downstairs. I grabbed the phone and called Dad, though then he was Uncle Leon. He called the police and they arrested him. Our mother was taken to the hospital, so was I to make sure I wasn't hurt too," Tim explained. He took a deep breath to calm down from the pain and anger that he was feeling with the stroll down memory lane because if he didn't, he was going to go in search of the bastard responsible and attempt to give him a taste of his own medicine. That would not end well for Tim.

"This was before I was born, right?" Sarah asked.

"This was when she was pregnant with you," Tim said.

Sarah gaped in horror as she realized the implications of that. That man had beaten her mother while she was pregnant with her. What would've happened had Tim not called for help? Would she have even lived long enough to even draw breath? Tim had saved her that night.

"Our mother said she fell. She always said that, just like they all do. No one really believed her, but there was nothing they could do," Tim said.

"Then how did he end up in prison?" Sarah asked.

"Dad. He sat with me and got me to admit what happened then and in the past. The man had a lot of patience because I was very reluctant. It had been literally beaten into me that I should never tell anyone what went on in our house. I was terrified of what John would do if I told anyone what he did to us. Dad spent hours reassuring me that no one would hurt me if I told the truth. He said he'd protect me. Finally I told him. He convinced our mother to press charges and John went to prison," Tim said.

My God, he's a sadistic bastard!" Sarah said angrily. She hated this man for what he did to her brother and her birth mother. Where did he even get off calling himself their father after that? A father didn't do things like that.

"Yeah, he is, which means we need to be careful. We cannot provoke him," Tim said seriously. His words were as much for himself as they were for Sarah. He'd made quite a few comments he shouldn't have and he had to stop that if he wanted to avoid John's wrath.

"You want me to be nice to him? He beat you," Sarah said. She was incapable of being nice to a guy who hurt her brother like that.

"Yeah, and he's gonna do it again if we don't control ourselves. He's not gonna touch you. It's gonna be me because should you do something to incur his anger, I'm going to do something to focus it on me," Tim told her.

"What? No, don't do that," Sarah said in horror. She did not wanna see her brother hurt because of her.

"I'm not letting him hurt you. I'll take on his anger if I have to, so please try to stay off his radar. Just do anything he wants. Don't provoke him," Tim warned again.

"What does he want with us?" Sarah asked.

Tim quickly explained what John had told him the night before about the person who sent him those pictures and planned to hurt them to get to him.

"So he's trying to protect us?" Sarah asked skeptically. She found it hard to believe that this man cared about them at all.

"It's not really about us. It's about making sure no one touches what's his. You heard him. He thinks we belong to him. He basically admitted last night that he's just upset that someone is daring to try to take what belongs to him," Tim said.

A horrifying thought occurred to Sarah after she heard her brother's theory. "If he considers us no more than property, he's not gonna let us go when it's over, is he?"

Tim sighed. He'd thought about that too the night before and even tried to ask John that question only to be ignored, which was an answer in itself. "No, he's not."


	24. Chapter 24

A couple hours later, Tim and Sarah were walking downstairs towards the kitchen to get something to eat. "This couldn't end with a beating, could it?" Sarah asked.

"I don't think so. I doubt he plans for us to starve. Even he's not that much of a bastard," Tim said as they walked through the living room and into the kitchen. He was pleased to see that John was nowhere in sight. Although, the guard, Mark, was still at the door making sure they didn't leave.

Tim watched as the man regarding them carefully and moved put a hand on his weapon. Tim glared and walked past him to the refrigerator. He opened it up and looked around. "Does a sandwich work for you, Sarah?"

"As long as it's not ham," Sarah said.

Tim rolled his eyes. "I think I know you well enough to know your hatred for ham," Tim said as took out some lunch meat and condiments."

Sarah, meanwhile, looked towards Mark, who was staring at her. She really detested this man. She'd been around him for a couple of days and he never stopped staring at her when she was around him. "Hey, pervert, I know any woman worth a damn probably won't took you with a ten foot pole, but that doesn't mean you stare at me."

Tim stopped what he was doing and turned and looked between his sister and John's jackass bodyguard. He didn't like the looks the man was giving his sister. "Sarah, maybe you should wait upstairs."

"Unless you wanna go around with a black eye, I suggest you take that advice, little girl. I don't take disrespect from women," Mark said with a glare.

"Screw you, Asshole," Sarah said as she moved to go past him.

Mark grabbed her by the hair as she tried to leave. "You'd best keep your damn mouth shut!"

"Get your hands off my sister!" Tim growled as he advanced on the man.

Mark took out a taser and hit him in the side with it.

Tim went rigid as the shock went through his body. He fell to the ground in pain. He'd been tased before, but it never seemed to hurt less the next time it happened.

They all soon heard footsteps headed their way. Mark let go of Sarah and bent down next to Tim and whispered in his ear. "You tried to escape, understand? You agree when he asks, I'll say it was all you. You try to tell him the truth, I say you both did it. He'll believe me over you."

John made it into the room a second later. "What the hell's going on?"

"He tried to get past me and run. I had to use my taser to stop him," Mark lied, knowing He would be the one to suffer John McGee's wrath. He was a good fighter, but not as good as McGee. They'd been in prison together and he'd seen the man in action.

Tim saw Sarah open her mouth to protest, but he quickly shook his head, silently telling her to keep to stay quiet.

John walked towards his son and stopped right in front of him. "Stand up!"

Tim was still in quite a bit of pain and wasn't ready to get up, but he knew if he didn't obey, it would only be worse, so he made it to his feet as quickly as he could.

"Was I unclear when I explained what would happen if you tried to escape?" John asked in a cold, steel voice.

"No," Tim said.

John punched him in the mouth, causing him to stumble back and just barely keep his balance.

"Tim!" Sarah yelled.

John turned and glared at her. "You will keep your mouth shut! Should you have had any part in this, I will get to you."

Tim sent her a look, begging her not to anger him further. The beating he was about to take would be more than enough.

John turned back to his son. "Has it been so long since you've been in this situation that you've forgotten how to answer me. When I have questions, you finish with 'sir!'. Now answer me correctly!"

"No, sir, you were not unclear," Tim said through gritted teeth.

"Did you attempt to escape?" John asked.

"Yes, sir," Tim lied.

Sarah was horrified. Why was he doing this? Tim had told her not to provoke their biological father and he was doing it instead. He was lying to the man, knowing that the lie would likely leave him broken for the foreseeable future.

"And what role did your sister play?" John questioned.

"None, sir," Tim replied.

John looked at Mark questioningly.

"He's telling the truth. He took a swing at me when I appeared off guard. The girl appeared shocked," Mark said.

John nodded and turned back to his son. He stared at him for a minute and punched him in the face again, this time sending him to the ground. He then kicked him in the stomach. "You were warned! I told you that if you tried to leave, you would be punished severely, didn't I?"

Tim curled up into a ball and grabbed his stomach. "Y...yes, sir."

John pulled him up by the arm until he was on his knees and punched him repeatedly in the stomach.

Sarah could not let this go on. She'd watched her brother get beaten because of something that started with her and she couldn't let it continued. "No, leave him alone! He didn't try to escape!"

"Sarah, no," Tim said as he groaned in pain.

John let his son fall to the floor and walked towards his daughter. "What was that?"

"Tim didn't try to escape. Your jackass guard lied and I think he told Tim to lie too. He whispered something in your ear right before you walked in. He's the one you should be beating the crap out of, not your own son!" Sarah said angrily.

"John, I swear, what I've said is the truth. She's obviously trying to get her brother out of a beating he deserves," Mark said.

John raised a hand towards the man to shut him up. "Sarah, if you are lying to me, the consequences will be more painful than you can even imagine, for both of you. You will explain right now what happened."

"Mark grabbed me after I said something he didn't like. Tim went to stop him and was tasered for it. No one tried to escape. We came down here to get something to eat," Sarah explained.

John looked at her as though he was trying to figure out if she was telling the truth. He then walked over to Mark with an impassive expression on his face. In a quick move, he grabbed him by the back of the shirt, turned him around and slammed him into the door, the impact sending him to the ground. "I told you you could use force only if they tried to escape. Any other other time they need to be taken to task, it will be by me alone!"

"She's l...lying," Mark said.

John kicked him several times in the stomach. "I don't think so. After hearing what she had to say, it makes more sense than your version does. I found it hard to believe that my son would be so stupid as to try to escape less than a day after I gave him that warning, but I didn't think he'd lie either. Or you for that matter. Lying to me was very stupid, Mark." He pulled him up and punched him in the face.

Sarah watched in both satisfaction and horror. She was happy to see the bastard that had gotten her brother hurt get his own ass beat, but she was horrified at seeing first hand how brutal John McGee was.

Once he was done, John went back to his son and knelt down next to him. "Consider this your comeuppance for lying to me. I should give you more, but since you were a partial victim here, we'll call it done. Lie to me again, and this will seem like nothing. Understood?"

"Y...yes sir," Tim managed to get out.

John got up and walked out of the room, leaving his son on the floor in pain.


	25. Chapter 25

Gibbs walked into the evidence garage of NCIS where Abby was working on Tim's car. he saw her legs sticking out of the driver's side of the car. "Abby."

Abby crawled out of the car and turned to face Gibbs. "Hey, Gibbs. Any word?" She was made at McGee for lying and now felt like he didn't earn his place with them, but she still cared about him and wanted him to be okay.

"Not yet. I'm hoping you can help with that. You find anything?" Gibbs asked.

"No, DNA. I checked the whole car and there was no blood traces. That I think is a good thing though. I lifted some prints, but I'm pretty sure they'll all come back as Timmy's. I did find something on the bottom of the seat on the driver's side," Abby said before reaching into the car and pulling out an evidence garage with a small listening device in it. She held it up for Gibbs. "It's a bug."

"Son of a bitch. That's how he did it," Gibbs said. This was how McGee knew where Tim and Sarah would be when he shot at Tim. He'd planted a bug in Tim's car, possibly Sarah's too.

"Who? Do you know who did this?" Abby asked. She hadn't heard they'd had a suspect. She'd tried to ask when she learned McGee was missing, but the team wasn't telling her anything.

"Let me know when you get the prints back," Gibbs said. He was hoping McGee or someone who was working for him had left prints behind when they planted that device.

"Gibbs!" Abby whined.

"No, Abs. Can't talk to you about this. It's not my place," Gibbs said. He would not tell Abby Tim's secrets. Eventually, she would likely find out, but not through him. The only reason Tony and Ziva had been told was because they needed to know who they were up against. Also that decision had been made by Vance, Tim's father, not Gibbs.

"So he's still keeping secrets and you're gonna help him?" Abby asked unhappily.

Gibbs sighed. "Abby, Tim's missing. I don't have time to sit here and listen to you lash out because fhe didn't tell you everything about him. Any secrets he has, he has a right to."

"Not when it affects us. We all got our positions through hard work. It's clear that he…"

"Do not finish that sentence!" Gibbs yelled, causing Abby to flinch. He was pissed. He couldn't believe she could think that. Even when Tony had insinuated that, Gibbs knew he didn't mean it. He was just angry about being lied to and felt like a foolish knowing the things he'd pulled on Tim right under Vance's nose. Abby really meant what she was sayin. "How dare you accuse Tim of maneuvering his way to where he is through Vance? How can you think him that self-entitled and undeserving? He started off at the bottom just like everyone else and he worked his way up. Yeah, he kept his family influence a secret, but it wasn't so he could use it. I can't believe after six years of working with him, you could believe that's the type of person he is. And I can't believe you'd think I would go for that."

"What? No, Gibbs, I didn't say you'd do that. You didn't know," Abby said.

"Who hired him, Abby? Who brought him onto this team? Not Vance or Morrow. I did that. I fought for him. Now if I'm the one that did that and he could it through nepotism, than I must have succumbed to pressure from those above me, right?" Gibbs asked.

"No, I know you would never do that, but why else would he lie about it?" Abby asked.

"It wasn't any of our business, Abby. His life outside this building is no one's business but his own. Now I need to get back to work on finding him," Gibbs said before walking away.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Gibbs walked into Vance's office and saw the man at his desk looking extremely tired. The man had obviously not gotten a lot of sleep lately, though who could when they'd had the week he'd had?"

"Tell me you have something," Vance said as he rubbed his eyes.

"Not much. We did find out how McGee knew where Tim and Sarah would be the night they were shot at. He planted a bug in his car," Gibbs said.

"That bastard was keeping tabs on them for a while. Well, at least it's one question answered. Of course, there are a whole lot more. One I've been asking myself all day is why did McGee shoot at Tim if his goal was to kidnap him and Sarah?" Vance asked.

Gibbs shrugged. "Play games with him? He seems to enjoy that. Either way, I think it's clear now that he never intended to kill him. Tony and Ziva pointed out that he waited until Tim saw the gun to fire and they're right. That's not a coincidence. The shooting was a warning."

"But why? It would've made more sense to catch them off guard rather than warn us to danger. You're right, McGee likes playing with people, but I don't think that's what this was. I don't know what it was, but something tells me there was a bigger motive than that," Vance said. Gibbs wasn't the only one that could have a gut. His was telling him something was going on here.

"We'll figure it out and we'll bring them both home. We'll find them," Gibbs assured him.

"it's not finding them that I'm overly concerned about. I know we'll find them because we won't rest until we do. I'm worried about what condition we'll find them in. McGee is a cruel son of a bitch," Vance said.

"How easily does he lose control?" Gibbs asked. He wanted to know exactly what he was dealing with.

"He doesn't, which in my opinion makes him worse. McGee isn't like a lot of other abusers, Gibbs. He doesn't have an anger problem. He has a bastard problem. Beating those he feels belong to him is his way of keeping them in line. He considered his family to be his property, as such he could 'punish' them anyway he wanted, and he did. He's a possessive, violent SOB," Vance growled. He hated John McGee more than anyone else. He hated what the bastard had done to his son. He'd nearly destroyed Tim. He'd beaten him down physically and emotionally and now it might happen again.

"So then in most cases, he won't go too far," Gibbs said. Of course, he wnt too far the minute he beat his wife and son, but the fact that he was so controlled meant that he wouldn't accidently kill Tim and Sarah.

"He's already gone too far. He kidnapped my children, that is of course after torturing Tim as a child. I'm scared for him. Sarah too, but mostly Tim," Vance said with worry in his voice. "Because Tim will try to take all of McGee's anger, including what's directed at Sarah," Gibbs guessed. He knew Tim well. He knew how protective he was of his sister. That had become clear during that murder she was a suspect in. He would take McGee's anger away from her if he had to.

Vance nodded. He knew he didn't have to worry too much about Sarah wih Tim there. He still did of course, but not as much as he did the couple of days. Tim was who he had to worry about most. He was going to bare the brunt of McGee's anger. "I swear to God if he touches either of them, I will rip him to threads!

"You won't be alone," Gibbs said. He would kill anyone who dared to lay a hand on his people. John McGee would suffer for what he had done and probably still would do.


	26. Chapter 26

Tim woke up in bed several hours later. After dragging himself upstairs, Sarah had brought him some pain killers from the bathroom that he took and they knocked him out apparently. Normally he wouldn't take anything but over the counter stuff unless it was prescribed, but he was in a good amount of pain and there was no chance of actually getting a prescription. Besides, he would need to get used to taking things while he was there. He knew the pain had just started.

Sarah, who had been sitting in a chair nearby rushed to her brother's side when she saw him start to stir. "Hey. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I should be. It still hurts, but it's going to for a few days. How long was I out?" Tim asked.

"A while. It's almost six," Sarah said.

"Nothing happened, did it?" Tim asked. He didn't see any marks on his sister to indicate anything, but he wanted to be sure.

"No. I've been by your side practically the whole time. Tim, I'm so sorry," Sarah said. She felt so guilty for what happened to her brother. She knew it was her fault. She should've kept her mouth shut and walked away like Tim told her to.

"It's not your fault,' Tim said.

"Yes, it is. I provoked Mark when you asked me to stay quiet and watch what I say,' Sarah said.

"To be fair, I only told you to watch yourself with John. I should've been more specific. I know how you are," Tim said with a weak smile.

"I should've known better than to do it. Although, I have to say, you didn't help things. Why did you lie? Why did you agree to the story that you tried to escape?" Sarah asked.

'Because Mark threatened to say you were involved if I didn't. He said John would believe him over me and I was afraid he'd be right," Tim said.

"You lied to protect me. You can't do that. I don't want you getting hurt because of me," Sarah said.

"Too bad. I'm not going to let him hurt you. I will deal with everything I have to, but he's not gonna lay a hand on you," Tim said firmly.

"No! It's not right for you to get beaten because of something I say or do," Sarah said.

"Then help make sure I don't. Do as I've asked and don't provoke him or anyone else here," Tim said. He didn't blame Sarah for what happened. He would never blame anyone but John and those working with him for what they did. But it would make his life easier if his sister would think before she started running her mouth. He loved her, but her tendency to speak her mind was going to get him hurt.

Sarah sighed. "I'm trying, but I hate that son of a bitch. He beat the crap out of you for something you didn't do and when he realized he was wrong, he didn't care. He said it was your fault for lying and threatened to give you worse next time."

"You get why we didn't tell you about him now? He's a piece of crap and I honestly wish he was dead," Tim said. He didn't like hating someone so much that he wished they'd die, but he did with John. They would all better off with him dead.

Speaking of the devil, John appeared in the doorway at that moment. "Looks like you finally woke up."

Sarah stood in front of her brother as a shield when John came closer. "Stay away from him. You've hurt him enough."

John shrugged. "It's his own fault for lying to me."

Sarah glared hatefully at him. "Your bastard guard attacked him and lied about it!"

"Which is why I let you give him the pain meds. Did you really think I didn't notice? I let you give them to him because it wasn't all his fault," John said.

"Yes, you're so wonderful," Sarah said, her voice dripping in sarcasm.

"Sarah, shut up," Tim said. He knew if she kept going it would be bad.

"Listen to him," John said before pulling her out of his way and approaching his son. "He knows the consequences of testing my patience. Learn a lesson, Timothy."

"Yes, sir," Tim said through gritted teeth. "Look, will you just let Sarah go. It's not like you'll miss her. You never had her in the first place before."

John raised his foot up and pressed it on Tim's stomach where he punched him earlier, causing the younger man to yell out in pain. "And whose fault is that, son?

"Leave him alone!" Sarah yelled as she moved to stop him.

"Take one more step and you are next," John warned.

Sarah stopped. She had to get herself under control before she made it worse for herself and her brother.

"I asked you a question, boy," John told Tim.

"You would've killed her," Tim said through the pain.

"What was that?" John asked as he pushed down harder.

Tim yelled out loudly. "I...It's my fault."

"That's right. You opened your mouth about things you knew were to stay within our home. And I have been very generous with you about it, haven't I? I haven't punished you for it. What do you have to say about that?" John asked.

"Th...thank you," Tim said grudgingly.

"Thank you what?" he asked.

"Sir."

"Not the answer I'm looking for. Try again," John said.

Tim stared right at him. He knew what he wanted now and there was no way he would give it to him. He didn't care how much the man kicked the crap out of him. "No."

John raised an eyebrow and glared dangerously at him. "Excuse me."

"You are not my father and I will never say you are," Tim said stubbornly.

John kept glaring at his son for a minute. Then he put his foot back down on the ground and walked over to Sarah. He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the door. "I'm going to have to ask you to excuse us for a few minutes."

Sarah tried to struggle out of his grip, but he was too strong for her and she soon found herself in the hall with the door slammed in her face. The next thing she heard was her brother yell out at he was beaten, badly.


	27. Chapter 27

Tim was in agony. It had been a day or so since he had been beaten until he was unconscious. He had been in and out since then due to the pain. At some point while he was out, John or one of his lackeys must have put him back on the bed because he was on the floor for a while. John had dragged him off the bed before he started beating him.

Tim knew that he did that day was stupid. He'd told Sarah several times to just keep her mouth shut and do what John wanted. He should've taken his own advice. He just felt like it was an insult to his dad to call that son of a bitch his father. But he knew his dad would've told him to do it to protect himself. He should've done it. Now he was in more pain than he'd been in since he was little and he couldn't protect Sarah.

He began to worry about Sarah. He hadn't seen her since John dragged her out. If it was at all possible, Sarah would be with him right now. The fact that she wasn't meant that John had done something.

At that moment, John chose to come in. He gave Tim his usual smug smirk. "Welcome back again. I was starting to get concerned. It's been two days."

"Yeah, I'm sure you were so worried, especially since you caused it," Tim bit out.

"No, that was your own doing. You know better than to speak to me the way you did or to defy an order from me. I made myself clear on the Vance issue. Vance is not your father. Clearly, he did a horrible job with you anyway," John said.

Tim barely managed to refrain from lashing out at the bastard for speaking of his father like that. The bruises and sore bones helped him to keep his mouth shut.

"Vance has made you soft. He turned you into a civil servant and a computer geek. If you'd been raised by me, you would be a real man. You'd have made it into the Navy and lived up to my name," John said.

"If I'd been raised by you, I'd be dead," Tim said. He doubted John would've killed him, as the man didn't lose control too often when he abused his family. It was only a couple of rare occasions that he did. But Tim certainly would've killed himself by now.

John didn't comment on his son's last comment. "And you certainly wouldn't have dared to speak half the comments you have since you got here. Speaking of, those comments will stop or you'll be punished, clear?"

"Yes sir," Tim said reluctantly.

"Good."

"Where's Sarah?" Tim asked.

"Well, she became quite upset after I was forced to punish you. She has quite the mouth on her. I was forced to deal with her," John said.

"You bastard, I swear if you've hurt her…" Tim trailed off as he received a backhand to the face. It nearly knocked the wind out of him given the circumstances.

"Those are the type of comments that will leave you in the kind of pain you're in now. I suggest you restrain yourself. You will show me respect. Now I was lenient with Sarah given that she has very little experience with me, but it's the one and only time she'll receive it, so I suggest you tell her to curve her attitude. Next time, I won't merely keep her from seeing you," John said.

"I want to see her," Tim said in a demanding tone.

John raised an eyebrow. "Ask me respectfully."

Once again, Tim wanted to tell the man where to go, but he once again remembered his injuries. "May I see my sister please."

"I'm waiting for something else. You will say it or we will go back to our last 'conversation'," John said firmly.

Tim never hated the word he was about to utter more than in that moment. His son of a bitch didn't deserve to hear it. But he really didn't want another beating and he needed to understand. His father would understand. He would tell him to do it if he could. he prayed that was the case anyway. "Dad."

"Good boy," John said with a smirk before reaching down and grabbing his son by the back of the arm. "She's downstairs. We're gonna join her. Let's go."

Tim groaned as he was pulled to his feet. He nearly fell over as he tried to get his balance.

John gripped his shoulders to steady him. "Easy. I don't think falling is going to help your pain right now."

Tim bristled, but held back from commenting. He went along as he was led out of the room and down the stairs to the kitchen. Sarah was seated at the table with Mark stationed right next to her, presumably to keep her from moving.

"Tim, are you okay?" Sarah asked concerned.

"Yeah," Tim said before he found himself pushed down into a chair.

"Get lost, Mark," John ordered before sitting down.

Mark immediately walked out of the room.

"Are you sure you're okay? You look bad," Sarah said.

"Thanks," Tim said lightly.

"He'll be fine as long as he remembers his place. You'd do well to learn it as well. The leniency you've gotten from me comes to an end now," John said.

Sarah opened her mouth to say something only to be interrupted by Tim.

"Keep your mouth shut, Sarah," he ordered. He'd had enough excitement due to his own inability to keep a cool head. He couldn't deal with anymore. They were just going to have to play by John's rules for now.

Sarah looked at her brother and cringed. She'd almost made things worse for him and he'd already been through enough. It was just that keeping her mouth shut wasn't something she was good at. She didn't have good self-control.

"Well, you're learning more every minute, Tim. I suggest you teach your sister before I have to," John said.

"Yes sir," Tim said.

"It's time you learn the rules of this house, Sarah. There will be absolutely no disrespect. You will find yourself in serious pain should there be any. Same goes should you disobey anything I tell you. I am in charge. It's as simple as that. You got me?" John asked.

Sarah looked to her brother, who didn't say anything, but nodded curtly. "Fine."

John was up and at her side in seconds. He grabbed the back of her neck hard, causing her to yell out and bring her head back.

Tim immediately got up. "Let her go!"

John used his free hand to shove his son to the ground. It wasn't hard given his current condition. Then he turned back to his daughter. "The correct answer is 'yes sir'. Say it now!"

"Yes sir," Sarah said immediately.

John let go and knelt by Tim. "Pick yourself up and get back in your chair. You try to interfere again and you will get twice what I give to her."

Tim groaned as he pulled himself to his feet. He immediately collapsed back into his chair.

"One last thing," John said as he sat back down. "Your brother has finally gotten this beaten into him. Hopefully I won't have to do the same with you. I am your father. I've already told you that you will respect that, but now I want it made clear that you will address me that way. You will do it now," John told her.

"You can't be serious. I have known you less than a week," Sarah said in disbelief.

"Thank your brother for that. I would say thank Vance as well, but you won't be seeing him again. You will do this or you will face the consequences. Now," John added when she didn't do it right away.

'Do it' Tim mouthed."

Sarah glared at John. "Fine, but you can't make me mean it."

John raised an eyebrow as if to say he was waiting.

Sarah took a deep breath and forced the words out. "I understand, Dad."

John smiled smugly. "Good. You can both go now if you want."

Sarah stood up and helped her brother up. "Come on, you should get some more rest."

Tim nodded allowed his sister to lead him back out of the room.


	28. Chapter 28

Tony was at his desk, where he'd been pretty much since McGee went after his sperm donor in an attempt to help Sarah. They'd pretty much been sleeping at their desks or on the futon in Abby's lab. Though Tony didn't do the latter much. He didn't have much desire to be in Abby's presence right now, since she was still clinging to her beliefs about McGee. He no longer did and couldn't stand hearing it from Abby.

The rest of the time, they were all working. They had found no leads on McGee or where his bastard father had taken them. Well, that was until now. Tony had been trying for days to get in touch with the prison John McGee had spent most of Tim's life in. Finally, the warden got back to him.

Ziva came through at that moment with coffees. It had been her turn to make a run. She went over and put on on Tony's desk.

"Thanks," Tony said without taking his eyes off his computer. He was waiting for a file the director was sending him on John McGee.

"Where is Gibbs?" Ziva asked as she put his coffee on his desk.

"The Head. Finally!" Tony exclaimed with an excited glint in his eyes.

"What is it?" Ziva asked.

"I finally got in touch with the warden in charge McGee's bastard biological father. He just sent me the file by email," Tony said before opening it up and browsing the contents. Finding what he was looking for, he got to work on research.

"Have you found anything?" Ziva asked.

"Yup! I'm looking up records now," Tony said.

Ziva walked over to Tony and leaned over his shoulder.

A few minutes later, Gibbs appeared and saw his two agents huddled together. "You two got something."

"Yeah, a possible accomplice. Is the director in yet?" Tony asked. Unlike them, Vance could not be at NCIS twenty-four/seven. He had to go home at night to be there for his wife and two other kids. He had to try to reassure them.

"Right here, DiNozzo," Vance said as he made his way towards them. He had been walking towards the stairs to his office when he heard the younger man's question. "What did you find?"

"I got John McGee's file from when he was in prison. The idiots finally got back to him. There was a guy McGee associated with quite a bit while in prison. He got into a few scuffles with this guy. In one incident, they ganged up on a guy and nearly killed him," Tony explained.

"Yeah, McGee was always too cowardly to fight fair. Though if this happened, I'm wondering how he got early release if this happened," Vance said. Early release typically only happened if you were a model prisoner. Even if the parole board believed he'd changed, they wouldn't release him if he continued to start trouble.

"The other guy he was with took the blame. He said McGee only got involved to break it up. There were apparently no witnesses that would say otherwise," Tony said.

"What's this guy's name?" Gibbs asked.

"Mark Jacobs. I just got into his file. Bringing it up on the Plasma now," Tony said.

They all turned to the TV in time to see a mugshot of a man with graying dark brown hair with a beard.

"He's got a record of domestic abuse and sexual assault. He cornered a girl outside a bar and forced himself on her. He didn't get the chance to do much thankfully. The bartender interrupted him and then called the police," Tony explained.

Vance was more than a bit uneasy. If this guy was working with McGee now, there was a sexual predator in close proximity of his daughter. And Sarah had a big mouth on her. She would provoke both McGee and Jacobs. Tim would do his best to protect her, but that would put him at risk too. His kids were in trouble. He had to find them.

"Jacobs did his full amount. He was released four months ago," Tony said.

"Find out if he has any family. If he does, have them brought in," Vance ordered before heading for his office.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Hours later, Tony was sitting in an interrogation room with Mark Jacob's brother, Scott. The man had been relatively easy to find and bring in. He was stationed at a Navy base in Norfolk.

"I haven't seen Mark in years," Scott said.

"I don't remember mentioning your brother," Tony said.

"I'm not an idiot, Agent DiNozzo. Mark's the only one in the family you could be after. Well, since our father's dead anyway," Scott said.

"Yeah, Daddy was quite the criminal too. A drug dealer and a wife beater. I guess we know where your brother gets that gene from. You, however, have no record at all. Is it because you're clean or just smarter than your family?" Tony asked.

Scott sighed. "I never wanted that in my life. I had no interest in prison or taking my anger out on women and children."

"When's the last time you saw your brother?" Tony asked.

"I told you, years ago. I cut ties when he went to prison," Scott said.

"Have you heard from him at all?" Tony asked.

"No."

Tony could tell he was lying. He wasn't that good at it. He looked away when answering. Tony was sure though that he could get to him, and not through intimidation. He reached into the file that laid on the table and took out photos of Tim and Sarah. He put them in front of Scott. "That is Special Agent Timothy McGee and his sister Sarah. Your brother helped kidnap them."

"A...an agent?" Scott stuttered.

"Yeah, and they're also the adopted kids of the director of this agency. Believe it or not though, that's not the part I want you to focus on. I want you to focus on her," Tony said as he pointed to the picture of Sarah. Your brother was charged with sexual assault. You know what he could do to her if he has the chance. You said you didn't like his treatment of women, Scott. Help us make sure he can't hurt her."

Scott shuddered. "I really don't know where he is."

"But you have talked to him," Tony prodded.

Scott nodded. "He called me and I agreed to meet him. I shouldn't have, but he is my brother. He told me he was doing work for a fellow former inmate. That was enough to make me want to leave. He tried to convince me that he was doing something good though. He said this guy's kids were being threatened. He even showed me death threats."

Tony frowned. This guy was mentioning death threats against Tim and Sarah. He supposed the supposed death threats could've been a hoax to get Scott to help, but he couldn't ignore the possibility that there was another threat. "You saw this? Do you remember what they said?"

"There were pictures, just like these with a threat, well, more like a promise, to kill. Mark said they were going to protect them. He didn't mention abduction. He wanted me to help, but I didn't trust him or anyone he worked with. I was sure there was an illegal element. I was right," Scott said.

"Yeah, you were. He didn't tell you where he was going?" Tony asked.

Scott shook his head.

"What about his car? Did you see his car?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. I even remember the license plate. I can copy it down for you and give you a description," Scott said.

"Great. I'll get you a pen and paper," Tony said before getting up and heading out of the room. This was the first lead they'd had since all of this started. They finally had a hope of finishing this.


	29. Chapter 29

Sarah walked into the room her brother was staying in with a bowl of soup. Tim hadn't eaten anything in days, what with being unconscious for most of the time. "Hey, I brought you something to eat."

"My stomach feels like five cars were parked on top of it for several days. I am by no means hungry," Tim said.

"You've gotta eat, Tim. It's been days," Sarah said.

Tim sighed and pushed himself up slightly, groaning in pain while he did it. He then took the bowl from his sister. He spooned up a small bite and started to eat.

Sarah sat down on the edge of the bed. "How long do think this will go on?"

"Dad and Gibbs will find us," Tim said. He knew that that was true. His father wouldn't give up and neither would Gibbs. They would come for them. The condition he at least would be in, he wasn't so sure about.

Sarah wasn't sure either. She worried about what could happen to them in that time. "You've only been here a few days and he's already put his hands on you three times."

"Five. He twisted my wrist the first night and he smacked me yesterday when I woke up, before coming downstairs.

"God, if this is what it was like when you were a kid, I don't know how you survived," Sarah said with a shudder. Tim had been a little boy and he was forced to endure this torture then. The fact that her brother had gone through such hell hit her hard. He was such a good person. Even as a kid, she could count on one hand the number of times he'd messed up badly enough to be seriously punished. Going joyriding in their father's car was the worst thing he'd ever done.

"It wasn't. Oh, it was still hell, but it wasn't like this. I wasn't this stupid then. I did my best to avoid him. I certainly didn't provoke him the way I did the other day," Tim said before taking another bite of his soup.

"Why did you do that? You've told me numerous times since you got here that I should watch myself and then you lost it," Sarah said. She was in no way blaming him. That bastard was responsible, but she didn't understand why he didn't follow his own advice.

"Yeah, I know, Sarah. I should've just done what he wanted, but the idea of giving him the same title that I use with Dad seemed so wrong. It seemed like an insult to our parents. I didn't wanna do it," Tim said

"I didn't either, but Dad would've told us both to," Sarah said. She'd had a problem with it too when the asshole forced her to, but now that she thought about it, she knew her father would tell them to do what they had to do.

"Probably. He knows what John's like and he wouldn't want that for either of us," Tim said.

"How long do you think it'll be before he finds us?" Sarah asked.

Tim sighed. "Hopefully it'll be soon."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

The team and Vance were all in the bullpen several hours later. Ziva soon began speaking. "I finally have some information about John McGee from after his release. His parole officer from Chicago finally answered my calls. He had John McGee for three months before he went off the map."

"Off the grid," Tony automatically corrected.

"Whatever. They searched for him to revoke his parole, but there was no trace," Ziva said.

"He didn't disappear because of the threats. No way he waited nine months to take action," Gibbs said.

"No, he did it because he didn't wanna be controlled. He thrives on control. He was never gonna let someone have it over him for long," Vance said.

"Anything happen in this three months?" Gibbs asked.

"His parole officer said he followed the rules, but that the man made him uneasy. He apparently never seemed very sorry for his actions and still regarded his wife and children as possessions," Ziva said.

"Did he tell you anything that I didn't already know?" Vance asked irritably. He hadn't seen either of his kids in days and it was getting to him. He worried for their safety with his jackass, especially Tim's.

"No," Ziva said.

"And I don't suppose he gave you an explanation for why my family wasn't notified to McGee's release?" he asked. That still made his blood boil. This bastard had tortured Tim every day for seven years and almost caused Sarah's death before she was even born. They should've been warned.

"He said it must have been a clerical error," Ziva replied

"Any hits on the BOLO, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"Not yet, Boss. But in the meantime, I've started looking for the origin of the threat to McGee. He's made quite a few enemies."

"You better be saying that because you've narrowed down the list," Vance said. He wanted that bastard found too. This son of a bitch had dared to threaten the lives of two of his children. He would tear him apart. It would be a great warmup for when he finally got his hands on McGee.

Tony smiled. "Yes, I have, Director. The guy that McGee and Jacobs got in the prison fight with. His name is Ronald Clark. He was released from prison a month and a half ago and just so happens to be in DC."

"Get him in here," Gibbs ordered.

Tony nodded and he and Ziva headed for the elevator.

Vance turned to Gibbs. "I hope you realize you won't be interrogating this guy Gibbs. I will."

"Yeah, Leon, kinda figured that one out," Gibbs said with a smirk. This was one order he wouldn't fight Vance on. In fact he would watch happily as the director tore this piece of garbage apart.

"Good," Vance said before heading up to his office.


	30. Chapter 30

Vance stood in the observation room with Gibbs and DiNozzo, looking in on the piece of garbage that was likely responsible for threatening his kids.

"It's definitely him, Director. We found photos at his place of both Tim and Sarah out in the open. This one looks like it was taken outside your house," Tony said as he handed his director the pictures. He knew that fact was going to make him even angrier, and that was exactly Tony wanted. He was going to enjoy watching Vance rip this son of a bitch apart.

The picture had its desired effect. Vance was livid. Not only had this moron threatened his family, but he'd dared stalk his children right outside his house. It took a lot of balls to not only go after the kids of the director of a federal agency, but to also do it right under his nose. Vance would make him pay.

"He probably took the photos to send to John McGee. My guess is he already sent copies, along with the threat," Tony said.

"Anything else?" Gibbs asked.

"We found some weapons, a couple of handguns and a rifle. He also had Tim and Sarah's daily routines written down. Clark knew Tim was a federal agent. Apparently that didn't matter," Tony said.

"It'll matter to him soon," Vance growled before leaving the room and going into the interrogation room. He slammed the pictures down in front of Clark and wasted no time getting in his face. "You know who I am?"

Ronald Clark gulped in response.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'. You certainly should since you took one of these photo's right outside my house! It takes a real moron to stalk a federal agent and his sister outside of the director of NCIS's house, especially when said director is their father!" Vance growled.

Clark's face paled. "N...no. John McGee…"

"John McGee is a sperm donor! These two are mine. I don't appreciate scum like you stalking and threatening my children. And I know you did. You wanted revenge on McGee for beating the hell out of you, so you planned to kill his children. The problem is they're mine," Vance said.

"No, I wasn't. I wasn't gonna kill them. It was just a threat. I sent a threat with a few pictures. I wasn't really gonna do it. I just wanted McGee to suffer. He and his buddy ganged up on me and got away with it. I got time added onto my sentence while he got out early!" Clark said.

"You want me to believe you made threats, but weren't going to follow through?" Vance asked.

"Yes. I'm not a murderer, man, and even if I was, it would be suicidal to go after a fed. I don't need that. All I wanted was for McGee to suffer a little. I wanted him to worry about whether I'd ever follow through," Clark explained.

"One problem with that story. My kids were shot at recently," Vance said. He believed McGee was responsible, but he couldn't be positive.

Clark shook his head vigorously. "Not by me, I swear!"

"Tell me where you were friday night at around seven," Vance ordered.

"I was working. I had to work late. I can give you the name of several coworkers," Clark said.

"You damn well will. In the meantime, you'll be charge with two counts of stalking and threats, possibly attempted murder. Be grateful I haven't torn you to shreds. I'm still considering it, so I suggest you answer me when honestly when I ask this," Vance said before sitting down across from the man. "Did McGee respond to your threats."

"Yeah. He left me a message on my phone. He said I would never touch what belonged to him and that he'd make me suffer for even suggesting it. What I did didn't work. He wasn't at all afraid. he was pretty arrogant about stopping me and making me pay for it," Clark said unhappily.

"Where is he?" Vance demanded to know.

"I don't know."

"Don't tell me you don't know! You sent him threatening letters!" Vance's voice boomed murderously.

Clark flinched and backed up in his chair as far as he could. "I...I sent it to a navy buddy of his. The guy came to see him once or twice in prison, so I knew they were in contact,"

"Give me a name," Vance demanded.

"Ryan Woods,"

Vance got up and left the room. He knew if he stayed, he'd kill this piece of crap and that would not help his kids.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

A couple hours later, the team and Vance were back in the bullpen. There was a picture of Ryan Woods on the plasma. "Captain Woods' record is clean, Director. He has no criminal record or any flags on his Navel jacket. From what I can tell, he's a good guy."

"He's involved with McGee. Somehow I doubt that," Vance said.

"Well, the thing is, McGee saved his ass a couple of times in combat. Woods probably feels he owes McGee," Tony said.

"Where is he?" Gibbs asked.

"He is UA, Gibbs. I spoke with his commanding officer and he disappeared about a month ago," Ziva said.

"Right around the time McGee probably started planning Tim and Sarah's abductions," Vance said angrily.

Just then, Tony's phone rang. He went over and picked it up. "DiNozzo. Great, where? Okay, thanks."

"DiNozzo," Gibbs probed after his senior agent hung up.

"Got a hit on the BOLO for Mark Jacobs' car. The found it at a warehouse In Maryland. It's the in the general vasinity of where I traced McGee's phone call to Tim and where we found Tim's car," Tony said.

"You can tell me the address on the way to the parking lot. Let's go," Vance ordered.

"Director, you know they're probably gone by now," Tony said as he stood up.

"Yeah, I know, DiNozzo, but we could still find something. This is the best lead we've had. Let's move," Vance said before heading for the elevator. The others followed


	31. Chapter 31

The next morning, Vance was in his office. The trip to Maryland had turned up little to nothing. McGee was no longer there and there was no evidence indicating where they'd gone. The only evidence they'd found was Sarah's cellphone in the car and a couple of bullet holes, indicating that they drove the car when they attacked Vance's house. Abby was currently combing it for other evidence, but there was nothing yet and probably wouldn't be anything. They were back to no leads.

Vance soon heard the buzzer, indicating that his assistant wanted to speak to him. He immediately hit the button to speak to her. "Yes?"

"Your wife is here."

Vance sighed. He had nothing good to tell her. There was no news about their kids and no promising leads. "Okay."

The door opened and Jackie walked in.

Vance immediately got up and went to his wife. He hugged her tightly. "Hey, Baby. Where are the kids?"

Jackie pulled away after a minute. "Penny's staying with them. She showed up last night to see if there was any news."

Vance nodded. He'd of course apprised Penny of the situation. She was Tim and Sarah's grandmother and deserved to know what was going on. He had also been hoping she'd have some idea of where her son would take them, but he'd thought it was unlikely and he turned out to be right. She couldn't shed any light. "How are they?"

"They're asking more and more questions. They know something bad has happened and they're getting scared," Jackie said.

Vance wasn't surprised. His kids weren't stupid. They no doubt knew that their brother and sister were in serious trouble with the way each them just disappeared, and they were already shaken from the break in.

"Please tell me you've been here all night because you have a lead," Jackie pleaded. Her kids weren't the only ones scared. She was terrified. Two of her kids were out there with a monster. He had no problems beating up on her son when he was a boy, let alone now that he was a man. She couldn't stop thinking about what he was doing to her kids.

Vance shook his head sadly. "Actually it's the opposite. I didn't come home because we have nothing and I didn't wanna tell you that."

"Nothing? Leon, it's been days. How can no one have any answers at all?" Jackie asked.

"Well, alright, we know some things. We know the people involved and we know where they took Sarah to begin with, but we have no idea where they are now," Vance said.

Jackie sat down at the conference table in the middle of the room. "You and Tim have both told me stories about what John McGee did to Tim. He's had him for days and Sarah for almost a week. It's pretty much a given that he's hurt them, isn't it?"

Vance thought lying and giving his wife false hope, but Jackie didn't deserve that. These were her kids too and she deserved the truth. "He's probably had a go at Tim at least once by now. There's hope that he's left Sarah alone. I think Tim would do anything he could to make sure of that, even make McGee turn his anger on him."

"Which just means our son is getting twice as much pain. We have to find them," Jackie said as her voice began to crack.

Vance gently pulled her up and wrapped his arms around her. "I will find them. And then I will make sure John McGee pays!"

Xxxxxxxxxx

Gibbs walked into the lab and approached Abby who was at her computer. "Abby, you got anything.

Abby turned to him. "Hi, Gibbs. Uh, I matched the round you pulled out of the car to a sig, most likely belonging to one of the agents."

"Was expecting that," Gibbs said.

"I pulled some prints too. Sarah was definitely in that car. I got three other matches," Abby said as she started typing at her computer. A photo of Mark Jacobs popped up. "His name's Mark Jacobs and he has a hell of a rap sheet."

"Yeah, we knew about him," Gibbs said.

Abby pressed a button and another face came up. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes and was wearing a navy uniform. "Captain Ryan Woods. He has no record surprisingly. The last is of former Petty Officer, John McGee," Abby said before putting up another picture.

Gibbs glared at the photo. He couldn't wait to get his hands on the SOB. McGee made a mistake going after one of his people and he was gonna make him suffer for that.

"Gibbs, is this McGee's father? He has a record for domestic violence," Abby said.

"Yeah, what do you get from that?" Gibbs asked with a bit of irritation in his voice. He still wasn't happy with Abby after their last conversation.

"Timmy's father hurt him. That's why Director Vance adopted him. He never told me. We were together for a while and he still didn't tell me about his family, either of them," Abby said hurt.

"Why should he? So you could say to him what you said to me the last time we talked. You treated him like he was a little spoiled brat who got whatever he wanted because he was the director's kid?" Gibbs asked.

Abby looked around guiltily.

"Tim's life was agony practically from the moment he came into this world. His only saving grace was his mother making Leon Vance his godfather. That man is the only reason the man we know even exists. Otherwise he'd be dead or turned into another bastard like his biological father. He was in no way spoiled. He made it here on his own and became a respected agent on his own. How dare you mock that?" Gibbs asked angrily.

Abby began to cry slightly. "I'm sorry, Gibbs. I made a mistake."

For once, Abby's tears had no effect on Gibbs. "Would you still think so if you hadn't stumbled onto the knowledge that Tim was abused for the first seven years of his life? By the way, you do not mention this to anyone outside of the team, you got me?"

Abby nodded.

"Good," Gibbs said before walking away. He got on the elevator and went up to the bullpen. He got off the elevator and headed towards his desk.

Tony was just getting off the phone when Gibbs came over. "Boss, I think we may have something. I finally got some more information on McGee after he broke parole. He was living in Rockville Maryland for a while. He was using his mother's last name to rent an apartment and work. He's not there anymore, but I managed to find out from the landlord that he had a live in girlfriend," Tony said.

"Have her brought in," Gibbs said.

"Already took care of that. She'll be here in an hour," Tony said.

"Tell me you're having her brought in and didn't actually ask her to come in," Gibbs said. He didn't want this woman possibly warning McGee.

Tony smiled at his boss. "Local LEO's are bringing her in."

Gibbs nodded and went to his desk.


	32. Chapter 32

Gibbs and Vance walked into the interrogation room that Nicole Webb, McGee's girlfriend, was in and sat down. "I'm Director Leon Vance. This is Agent Gibbs."

The woman flinched when she heard Vance's name. She knew who this man was and she knew exactly what he wanted from her.

"You're heard of me," Vance said. He'd seen her reaction to hearing his name. McGee clearly told her something about him.

"No," Nicole lied.

"Yes, you have. John McGee, or he may have been calling himself John Langston, told you who I was," Vance said.

"I don't know either of those names," she denied.

"You're lying, Ms. Webb. I get why. John McGee is a controlling bully. I imagine he's shown you that a few times," Vance said softly. Despite the urgency of needed to find his kids, he decided not to hammer this woman for answers. She was obviously afraid and he didn't want to add to it.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Let me tell you what I'm talking about then. I've known John for years. He was married to my best friend. I knew from the moment I met him that he was bad news. He beat her regularly, the same with her son when they had kids. It didn't stop until that little boy got older and grew the courage to tell about what happened," Vance said. He flashed back back to that day he'd spent with Tim trying to get the little boy to tell him the truth. It had been a truly horrendous day, yet a good one too because it finally freed him.

"And where'd that get him?" Nicole blurted out. Then she realized what she'd said and looked down at her hands.

"Mrs. Webb, we get you're afraid of him, but he can't hurt you if you tell us where he is," Gibbs said.

Nicole shook her head. "He'll kill me."

"He's going to prison. He won't hurt you or anyone else," Vance said.

Nicole sat there in silence. A big part of her wanted to talk, to help those people, but she was so scared of what would happen if she did.

Vance sighed. He had to get her to talk. He didn't think bullying her would work and assuring her didn't seem to either. There was only one thing he could think of. "Please, Ms. Webb. These are my kids. I'm afraid for them with McGee. I'm sure he's already beaten on them a couple of times. I'm begging you to help me put a stop to it."

"They didn't ask for this. They don't deserve it. Help us save them," Gibbs said.

Nicole sighed. She was terrified to tell and get retribution from John, but she didn't think she could live with herself if she didn't help this man, if she didn't help the young man and woman in trouble. "When he first told me who you were, he made you sound like a monster that stole his kids and turned them against him. He wanted me to feel sorry for him and it worked. It didn't take long though for him to show me who the real monster was. It was maybe a month before he hit me the first time. I could only imagine what he'd done to his little boy. After a while, he stopped the pretense. He talked about taking back what was his, his kids."

"You knew he was planning to kidnap them?" Gibbs asked.

Nicole nodded. "He didn't actually put a plan into motion until he received the death threats on them, but it was always his intention. I can't tell you how many times he talked about taking back what belonged to him. He won't let them go either. It's not about threats or safety."

"Do you know where they are?" Vance asked.

"Yes. John and I got a house. He had me by then and I was already too afraid to leave him. We bought a house in my name," Nicole said.

"Where is it?" Vance asked.

Nicole hesitated, flashing back to the last time John hit her. He nearly knocked her unconscious. She could only imagine what he'd do if she told on him. But again, would she even want to live knowing she didn't help these people and they died? "Charleston West Virginia."

Gibbs gave her a pen and some paper. "Right down the address."

"I'm gonna make a call for private plane. That's a five hour drive if we speed," Vance said before getting up and leaving the room.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Sarah went downstairs to get herself something to drink. Tim was in his room resting. He was a little better, but he was still in a lot of pain from the beating he took. They needed to get out of there soon or someone, probably Tim, would get hurt again.

As Sarah poured herself a glass of water, she noticed once again as Mark looked at her like he was willing her to take off her clothes. She had to curve the instinct to tell him to screw himself. The last time she tried that, it had ended badly.

Suddenly, Mark's phone picked it up and he answered it, turning his back to Sarah.

Sarah eyed the knives on the counter in the knife holder. They'd always been available, but with three men ready to stop her, she never tried. However, John was out of the house and Ryan, the other guard, was sleeping since he took the night shift. She only needed to take out Mark and she could get herself and her brother out of there.

Sarah slowly grabbed the knife and walked quietly towards Mark. She was about to strike when he turned around, dropped his phone and grabbed her wrist, yanking the knife out of her hand.

"You think you were gonna stab me, little girl," Mark asked angrily before throwing her down on the floor.

Sarah winced and grabbed her head where it hit the hard floor.

"See to me, that's no different than an escape attempt and I think Daddy would agree," He said before grabbing her by the hair and pulling her to her feet.

Sarah screamed in pain. "Let go!

"I've been wanting payback since you opened your mouth that day. You should've let your brother take the beating. It would've eventually happened anyway. Now I have an excuse to make you pay for it," he said before raising his hand to smack her.

Just then, the door opened and John walked in. "What's going on?"

"She pulled a knife on me," Mark said.

John looked around and noticed the knife laying on the floor. He casually walked over and started pulling his daughter from Mark's hands by the arm. "Come here. You pull a knife on him?"

"No," Sarah lied. She couldn't stop trembling as she said it. She knew that if he found out she was lying, she would get hurt.

John let go of her arm and took her roughly by the chin and the back of the neck. "I think you're lying to, Sarah. You're shaking. You haven't done that until now, which tells me you're guilty. So we'll try again. Did you pull a knife on him."

"Y…yes," she admitted. He didn't believe her and she was going to take a beating now no matter what, so it was best not to make it worse.

John nodded and backhanded her across the face. He let her go and let her fall to the ground "That's for lying to me.

Just then, Tim arrived in the doorway. He'd heard yelling from upstairs and came to see what was going on. When he got there, he saw his sister on the ground holding her cheek.

"Timothy, I suggest you take yourself back upstairs unless you want a taste of this as well," John said.

Tim ignored the warning and rushed towards them to protect his sister.

John grabbed him by the forearm and then punched him twice in the stomach, sending him to the floor. "Alright, son. You'll get some attention from Daddy too, but you'll wait your turn. You'd best stay down until I finish with your sister."

Tim did not stay down. He immediately pulled himself up and took a swing at John. Tim would guess it was surprise that stopped John from blocking the punch. Tim didn't move afterwards, knowing damn well that the move he just made was going to have dire consequences. He was not going to win in a fight against John. He didn't even know if he could win on a normal day, let alone when he was injuried.

John got over the shock quickly and started laughing. "Oh, Timothy, that is one move I will make sure you never make again."

Tim gulped and took another swing. He knew he was screwed one way or another, but he didn't think it could get much worse and maybe putting up some fight would save Sarah. John's mind would be on him, not her.

This time, John blocked the shot by grabbing Tim's wrist as his fist went flying. He retaliated by kneeing him in the stomach.

Sarah, meanwhile, made it to her feet and was forced to watch helplessly as her brother took yet another beating for him.

John punched Tim twice in the face and then let him fall. He kicked him over onto his stomach and then grabbed his right arm bending it behind his back.

Tim knew exactly what John was planning to do to him. "No, don't!"

"You brought this on yourself," John said before bending his arm all the way back towards his head until he heard a pop.

Tim screamed out in agony from having his arm just broken.

"You're never gonna take a swing at me again, are you, boy?" John asked with a smug glint in his eyes.

Tim didn't speak. He held onto his arm and keep yelling in pain.

"Get up! We are far from done," John said before making a move to grab his son's arm. Before he could though, the door burst open.

"NCIS! Don't move!" Gibbs yelled as he ran in with his gun trained in front of him.

Vance came in after him and headed straight for John. He grabbed him and started punching him.

Sarah ran to her brother. "Tim, are you okay? I'm so sorry."

Tim still couldn't speak. He was still cradling his arm.

Gibbs, meanwhile took down Mark and had him cuffed and deposited in a chair. Then he walked over to Vance, who was still beating the hell out of McGee. "Leon, let him go."

"No way in hell!" Vance yelled as he continued to punch the man he'd just found beating his son until he was bloody.

"Leon, your kids need you. Don't let this piece of garbage take you away from them," Gibbs said.

Vance looked at Gibbs and then down at his kids. He then carelessly pushed McGee to the ground and went to Tim and Sarah. "Son, you're gonna be okay."

"M...My arm," Tim finally spoke. Everything hurt right now, but his arm was the worst.

Vance looked at his son's arm, which was at an angle, telling him it was definitely broken.

Tony and Ziva soon came in with Ryan woods handcuffed. "The house is clear, Boss."

"Get the EMTs in her then," Vance ordered. He'd had them called because he knew one of his kids would need medical attention. Now both of them did. He could see the forming bruise on Sarah's face too.

"And start getting these SOBs out of here," Gibbs said in reference to the bad guys.

Tony and Ziva looked down at Tim, both wanting to go to their partner, but they knew right now, it was best for them to get him help.

"Daddy, I'm so glad you're here," Sarah cried leaning into Vance's arms.

Vance put an arm around Sarah and a hand on Tim's leg. "It's gonna be okay, guys."


	33. Chapter 33

Vance was sitting in the emergency room of the local hospital waiting for news on his son. His hands were shaking with anger and concern. That piece of scum had beaten his son again. He'd broken his arm, left his face black and blue, and caused God only knew how many more injuries. He was so angry, both at McGee and himself. He'd promised Tim that John McGee would never touch him again. He hated that he broke that promise.

Soon, Gibbs walked over. "Hey. Where's Sarah?"

"I made her get checked out," Vance said. Sarah hadn't wanted to get examined, but he had insisted. He wanted to make sure she was okay.

"Good. Tony and Ziva are transporting McGee, Jacobs, and Woods back to NCIS. You speak to your wife?" Vance asked.

"Yeah. She's leaving the kids with a neighbor and coming up with Penny," Vance said.

"That's good. Tim and Sarah will probably wanna see her," Gibbs said.

"Thank you for stopping me, Gibbs. Killing McGee would've felt great, but it wouldn't help my kids if I went to prison," Vance said. He really had wanted McGee dead, but he was calm enough to realize now that killing him would've hurt his family more.

Gibbs nodded curtly. "They tell you how Tim's doing yet."

"Not yet," Vance said.

As if on cue, a doctor came out at that moment. "Timothy McGee's family?"

Vance and Gibbs immediately went over. "Leon Vance. He's my son."

"Doctor Matthias. Your son's going to be okay. He's banged up and in quite a bit of pain, but he's in no danger," he said.

Vance breathed a sigh of relief. "What are his injuries?"

"Well, he has a broken arm, which we've already reset, thankfully there was no need for surgery. He's also got a few cracked ribs. The rest is bruising that looks much worse than it is," the doctor explained.

"When are you releasing him?" Gibbs asked.

"Tomorrow. We'll keep him tonight for observation and release him in the morning."

"I want to see him," Vance said.

"Of course. I'll take you to him. Just so you know though, he may be kind of out of it. We gave him some stuff for the pain."

Vance nodded. "Gibbs, will you wait for Sarah and fill her in?"

Gibbs nodded and watched Vance leave with the doctor.

A few minutes later, Sarah came out. "Where's my dad?"

"He went to see your brother. He's gonna be fine. His injuries are minor," Gibbs said.

"They didn't look minor," Sarah said with a shudder.

"I know," Gibbs said. He'd been affected by the way his agent looked when they found him too. It took a lot for him to stop Vance from killing McGee instead of helping him. He wished to God they'd gotten there a few minutes sooner. They might have at least been able to stop Tim's arm from being broken.

"What happened today was my fault," Sarah said.

"No, it wasn't," Gibbs said immediately. He didn't even need to know the details. John McGee was the only one responsible for Tim's condition.

"It was. I screwed up. I pulled a knife on one of the guards. It was me that John was going after. Tim came down and focused that anger onto him.," Sarah cried.

"You were in a terrible situation, Sarah. You did something you thought would get you out of it. It backfired, but you had to take a chance. You didn't know we were coming," Gibbs said.

"That beating was meant for me, not him. He intervened and made sure that John would be angrier with him," Sarah said.

"You're looking at it the wrong way, Sarah. There is a villain here, but it's not you. No matter what you did, he had no right to touch either of you. A man does not hurt his kids," Gibbs said firmly.

"What's gonna happen with him?"Sarah asked.

"He's going back to prison. The deaths of those agents alone will have him there for the rest of his life," Gibbs assured her.

Sarah nodded, happy to hear she'd never have to see that bastard again.

"How are you doing? Your dad said you were being examined," Gibbs said.

"I'm fine. I've got a bunp on the the back of the head and a bruise from him smacking me, but nothing major. Tim's the reason I didn't get hurt much worse," she said.

"Tim will be okay," he assured her once more.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim opened his eyes to find himself in the hospital. His father was next to him holding his hand. "Dad."

"Hey, son. You okay?" Vance asked.

"Better," Tim said. He was in some pain, but it was better than it was when he was first rescued. He guessed he had pain killers to thank for that. That would also explain why he could hardly keep his eyes open. "Sarah?"

"She's being examined, but only to make sure. She's okay," Vance told him.

"He hit her. I'm sorry," Tim said. He felt horrible that Sarah got hurt. He'd promised to make sure that didn't happen. He should've gotten there a minute earlier.

"You have nothing to be sorry for!" Vance said firmly. He knew what Tim was doing and he wouldn't allow it. He wouldn't listen to his son blame himself for not having the ability to shield Sarah from McGee completely.

"He hit her. I didn't make it in time," Tim said sadly.

"Tim, it is not your fault! You will not blame yourself because you couldn't stop McGee!"

"But I didn't protect her," Tim protested.

"Of course you did. Sarah was barely harmed. It would've been much worse if not for you," Vance said.

"I should've been better," Tim said as he fought hard to keep his eyes open.

Vance sighed. He knew he wasn't going to get any farther with his son, while the younger man was fighting sleep. "Go to sleep, son. It's okay."

"Will you stay?" Tim asked. He felt like a little kid asking for his father to stay the night with him, but he needed him right now. After several hellish days with the man whose blood he shared, he needed his real father.

"Yes. I'm not going anywhere, and your mother will be here soon as well. Go to sleep," Vance urged.

Tim finally closed his eyes and drifted off.


	34. Chapter 34

Tim woke up again the next morning. Both his parents were with him. "Hi, Mom."

"Hi, baby. How you doing?" Jackie asked asked as stroked her son's hair.

"Okay. Where's Sarah?" Tim asked.

"She went to hotel with Penny. She'll be here later," Vance promised.

Tim nodded.

"You need anything, honey?" Jackie asked.

"Maybe some water," Tim said.

"I'll get it," Vance said before going over to the table by Tim's bed and pouring some water.

"I'm so glad you're okay. I was so worried about you two," Jackie said.

"I'm sorry, Mom. Please don't be mad. I had to go. I had to protect her. I couldn't let him hurt her, and I knew he would. He did. I failed," Tim said sadly.

"Here, son," Vance said as he held out his water.

Tim pushed himself a bit, groaning as he did and took the cup from his father. He drank it slowly and then returned the cup to his dad. "Thanks."

"Tim, look at me," Jackie instructed. "I am not gonna let you blame yourself for this anymore than I let your sister do it."

"She's blaming herself. I was afraid of that," Tim said.

"Do you blame her?" Vance asked.

"No. I wish she hadn't done whatever she did, but it's not her fault that he hit her or me," Tim said.

"Well, maybe you should follow that logic. It's not your fault that he hit her either. That man is the only one responsible for what happened," Jackie said firmly.

"But I'm her big brother. It was my job to protect her," Tim argued.

"No, it was mine. I am your father. It was my job to protect both of you," Vance said.

Jackie narrowed her eyes at her husband. He'd better be making some kind of point here because she wasn't going to let this blame game continue. It was pointless and took the responsibility away from the real culprit.

Vance held a hand up in surrender, telling his wife that he was indeed going somewhere. "Tim, I think that everybody could find something in this situation that would convince them that they're responsible. Blaming ourselves is easy and natural when someone we love is hurt and we couldn't do anything to stop it. But it's also counterproductive. We can't change anything and all our guilt does is give the person really responsible more power over us. Hasn't John McGee had enough control over your life. Let it go, son. Don't let him do this to you anymore."

"Okay, I'll try," Tim said. He heard what his father was saying and he did get it. He would try, but he didn't know how effective he would be.

"Good," Vance said.

"When can I go home?" Tim asked.

"You'll be released today. You're gonna come home with us and you're gonna take it easy," Jackie said firmly.

"Okay," Tim said, knowing better than to argue with his mother.

Just then there was a knock at the door and then Gibbs walked in. "Hey."

"Hi, Boss," Tim said.

"Gibbs, I don't think I've ever heard you knock before," Vance said in an amused tone.

"Don't get used to it, Leon," Gibbs said before turning to his agent. "How you doing, Tim?"

"I'm okay, but I guess I'm gonna be out for a while though," Tim said.

"We'll handle it. You take your time and get a hundred percent before you come back," Gibbs said.

Just then, Tony came in with Ziva. "Hi, are we interrupting."

Vance laughed slightly. "No, we'll give you a few minutes," he said before he and Jackie got up and headed out of the room.

"Hey, Probie. How are you feeling?" Tony asked.

"It's been worse. You guys know, right?" Tim asked. He figured they had to. There was no way his father could hide it after John kidnapped him and Sarah. Besides, he'd already said a little bit to Tony.

"That you win the award for suckiest childhoods on the team? Yeah. I thought one of us had escaped that club," Tony said, joking only slightly.

"Would've been nice," Tim said in the same tone.

"It does not matter to us. You are our friend. We will never look at you any different," Ziva promised.

"Thanks, Ziva." Tim said. Then he suddenly remembered something and looked frantically at Gibbs. "Boss, there's something you need to know. John said that there really was a threat on my life. I can't be positive that he wasn't lying, but…"

"Handled, Tim," Gibbs interrupted swiftly.

"Really?"

Gibbs nodded curtly. "Nothing for you to worry about."

Tim sighed in relief. His family was finally safe, from both John and any other threats.

"So Ducky and Palmer are outside. They didn't wanna crowd you, so they're waiting until we leave," Tony said.

It didn't escape Tim that one person wasn't mentioned. "Abby?"

"We wouldn't let her come. I didn't let her in the car and told her if she showed up on her own, she wouldn't be let in to see you. You can decide for yourself if you want to hear anything she has to say," Tony said.

"Boss?" Tim asked unsure. Gibbs had firmly been on his side when he told him of his parents, but Abby was Gibbs' favorite, so he wasn't sure how he'd react to friction between the rest of the team and her.

"With you, Tim. Won't take her side this time. We are all with you," Gibbs said firmly.

Tim smiled. He was happy. It would take him a little bit to recover from what had happened with John, but he had his real family, both of them actually, to help him through it, so he'd be okay.

THE END


End file.
